$40

Reason is a human activity. God is infinite and I cannot describe that. So I do not personify God by declaring that he has a “reason” for doing anything. I will be judged by what is in my heart and how I treat circumstances, people, and God. It’s not important why stuff happens. What you do next is important. 

Howeverrrrr, something happened to me that screams things DO happen for a reason. It didn’t change my beliefs but it’s in my heart to this day and reminds me that God is everything. 

In October of 1987, our family was in a pit. All our lives we had prepared well for the possibility of such a pit so it was more about despair than desperation. Nonetheless it was a world-on-your-shoulders-scared-shitless feeling. We were both unemployed, both seriously ill, living in the back room of her parents’ house, one child, eight months pregnant, and stone cold broke. The first bright spot on the way back up was a part time job at Sears. It paid above minimum wage, twenty hours a week, and a night shift that would not interfere with substitute teaching. Thank you, Jesus. 

Within two weeks we moved into an apartment and a few weeks after that decided it was time to tithe something. However, I was only getting ten days of substitute teaching a month and had nothing to cut out. I said to Sandy let’s pick a small goal and have faith. Having a carrot on the stick, even a small carrot, would at least get something started. We came up with $40 a month. That was only 4% of our income but we had to start somewhere. I prayed about it all day. 

That night at the shift change there it was on my desk, a pink slip, an actual pink slip telling me to report to the conference room. There were several new hires all holding the same slip. I was so disappointed, not frantic or stressed, just very disappointed. This was the perfect second job and everything had been looking up. The manager said, “Sears is raising its minimum wage. No one else is affected by the increase so you are strictly forbidden to tell co-workers. Your pay is being raised fifty cents an hour.” The four function school teacher calculator in my head from all that grade averaging told me the monthly increase before he even finished his sentence. It was…..wait for it……$40.

It is better to know some of the questions than all of the answers. - James Thurber

Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare. - unknown

Consider what each soil will bear, and what each refuses. - Virgil

The intention of the Holy Ghost is to teach us how one goes to heaven, not how heaven goes. - Galileo Galilei

A cloudy day is no match for a sunny disposition. - William Arthur Ward