Imagine Your Victory Freedom Pages

This kind of stuff only happens to me.

One of my former students lost his mom.  When I heard about the arrangements for the funeral, I knew that I wanted to take chicken for the repast.  Chicken is my favorite thing to bring!  I don’t know why.  Maybe because it’s my favorite thing to eat. ( I just thought you should know that about me.)  Anyway I got to the funeral a little late.  I could tell it was packed inside because there was seriously no place to park.  Cars were everywhere!  I finally found a place and I walked a block to the funeral.  Once inside, I asked an usher where I should take the food that I had brought for the repast.  She sent me down into the basement.  There were two ladies with aprons standing there in silence.  I went over to the lady with short salt and pepper hair and glasses.  “I brought this for the repast.”

Her expression went from worry to one of extreme thankfulness.  She began walking towards me with her arms extended, so I began to raise the containers of chicken until I saw that she wasn’t reaching for them.  Her embrace communicated so much to me.  It was a hug that said, “thank you, we needed you, you are right on time and God sent you” – all in one motion.  After she released the embrace she began to collect the chicken and other side dishes from me.  I looked around the kitchen and it was literally bare.  There were a few bags, and covered dishes, but it was very sparse.

When I walked up the stairs the church was overflowing with people.  The only seat available was in the middle of the makeshift aisle in the hallway just outside of the sanctuary.  I climbed over the people on the ends to get to my seat.  I sat and began to listen to the reflections.  One line that struck me was, “He was a good man.”  I turned my face up in a questioning gaze… HE?  Wait a minute… I started to panic.  I asked the lady next to me if I could look at her obituary, and sure enough I found out I WAS AT THE WRONG FUNERAL!

So I waited until a transition time to climb back over the people who I had interrupted the first time and started walking toward the door.  BUT THE CHICKEN!  There was NO WAY I was going back down there to an empty kitchen to take back one of few donations needed for the family.  As I walked out the door I felt so silly, but as I reflect on it now I see so much beauty in this story.

God can take a little, and make it into a lot.  Don’t ever underestimate the size of what you give. Your giving can have an impact far beyond what you could ever imagine.  When your heart is in the right place, there is no such thing as giving in the wrong place.  Allow God to place you in the middle of someone else’s miracle.

PS – I made it to the right funeral before it was over, and after that I went and bought more chicken.  The story made my student laugh and the gift of his smile, in the midst of his pain let me know that God had a plan all along.

Think on this verse today:

Galatians 6:9English Standard Version (ESV)

 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

Have you ever been at the wrong place at the right time? …  OOOOOH PLEASE TELL ME I’M NOT THE ONLY ONE!  Leave a comment below.