Jon
has had a recliner in his room in front of his TV, where he watches his DVD’s
and old VHS movies, since we moved to Florida. This particular old chair came
with us from New Hampshire twelve years ago and had seen better days. It was
stiff and ripped from years of overuse and no amount of scrubbing improved the
look of the tan vinyl. It was time for it to go to old furniture heaven.
Those
of you who’ve been around us for any length of time know we are craigslist
junkies. Most every major purchase item taking up space in our home and
driveway comes from craigslist. My money saving husband is a huge proponent of
letting others pay full price for something, use it four times, decide they don’t
want it, then sell it to him for less than half the original cost. He get’s
thrills and chills from obtaining a nearly new item at a bargain. So when it
was time to buy Jon a new chair, Mike visited his favorite store-craigslist.com.
We
didn’t want to pay much. Jon is not very kind to his possessions, so after
looking for a few weeks we finally found him a decent used recliner at a decent
price, borrowed a truck from a friend and went to pick it up. At least that’s
what we thought was the only purpose of this venture.
While
Mike was tying the chair down inside the truck bed the woman we were purchasing
it from (I’ll call her Susan) and I began chatting. In the course of our conversation
she shared that she was moving and selling a lot of her furniture-“downsizing”
is how she put it. Also, as often does, the question of Mike’s occupation came
up and the fact that he is a pastor.
We
paid her and were getting ready to hop in the truck to leave. As Susan started
to walk back toward her garage she turned suddenly and called out, “Pastor
Mike, Oh Pastor Mike, I wonder if you could do something for me before you go.”
I
turned around, looked at her and the first thing that came out of my mouth was,
“Do you need us to pray for you?”
She
immediately dropped her face into her hands and began to sob uncontrollably. I
went to her and gathered her shaking body up in my arms holding her for about
three minutes while she cried all over me. When she gained enough composure to
speak she half cried, half yelled, “Why did God have to take him away?!”
“Who
have you lost?” I asked gently.
“My
husband,” Susan wailed, grief pouring from the depths of her being, “He just
died suddenly of a heart attack. He was only 62. Now he’s gone and that’s why I’m
moving. That chair you’re buying is his.”
She
stared at Mike, giant tears gliding down her face, like he could somehow wave a
magic wand and make it all ok or at least give her an answer that made sense.
We
couldn’t give her an answer of course, because we don’t know. We don’t know why
people die suddenly, why tragedies occur, why things just don’t make sense
sometimes but we could tell her about The Answer-Jesus. The man of sorrows who
died to take every ounce of grief, heart wrenching pain and confusion we can
face in this life, upon Himself to give us hope and peace. And we prayed with
her, hugged her and tried our best to give her some comfort in the few minutes
God divinely ordained us to be there.
As
it turned out Susan did want Mike to muscle something in the garage for her
that needed fixing, something that required having a man around to do. He
helped her with that and she thanked him profusely. We asked her if she needed
anything else, said our goodbyes with a promise to continue praying for her and
left with her husband’s recliner gently shifting in the wind in the truck bed as
we drove the highway home. ‘
Anytime
I walk into Jon’s room, I will be reminded of a day we thought we were just going
to make a purchase, but God knew of a heartbroken woman thirty miles away who
needed a hug, a prayer, a ray of hope, so He set up a divine appointment - with
a chair.
If
you think you need a title, a platform, or a microphone, to do ministry, think again. Right this
very minute opportunity to give away the love of Jesus is all around you. Ministry
happens anytime, anywhere there’s you and people in need, so open your eyes,
open your ears, open your heart and be aware of the “chair” moments that arise
in the routine events of your every day .
I Peter 3:15 Always be
prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the
hope
that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,
No comments:
Post a Comment