Garage Sale Providence

So, the amazing God-moments continue to happen.

Recently, Barb and I were at the Old West End Festival here in Toledo. It's sort of like a mini Mardi Gras sans the nudity and general drunken stupidity. The neighborhood's comprised of beautiful old homes (some you might call manions) nestled blocks from the downtown and surrounded by the ubiquitious urban blight. Still, this small section continues to shine. The makeup of the people is as complex as the architecture they reside in--white/black, gay/straight, rich/poor, religious/secular. Barb and I felt like we were back home in Kansas City. We loved it.

Besides the live music venues, food vendors, artists' tents, and Mardi Gras-esque parade (complete, I might add, with strands of beads tossed to passersby) the neighborhood sported dozens of garage sales!

Now if you know Barb and me, probably half of what's in our house at the moment is from garage sales. We loved a good garage sale. We figure, why pay full price when you can pay 10%. Pluse the stuff is a lot more interesting than what you will find at a box retailer. Indeed, it's a bit like a treasure hunt because you never know what you'll run across.

Such was the case this day. But I'm not talking about items we purchased (although we did pick up some Sango Japan china for $30 valued online at 10x that amount, two new Bombay Company lamps for $22 originally $90 each, and an antique prayer kneeling bench in great shape for $30). Instead we came across yet another gift from God.

As we were getting ready to leave, Edie was yelling that she had to go to the potty, loudly enough to be heard half a block away. Just as I was about to tell her to just get in the car, a man on the porch of the house we had parked in front of said she could use their facilities. So Barb took here up to do her thing. In the meantime, I thought I would just go up and be neighborly and talk to him. As we talked, I got around to the point that we are in Toledo planting a church. When I finished telling him our story, he looked at me somewhat astonished and said that was exactly the same thing him and his wife had done 25 years ago! As a matter of fact, they had planted 6 churches in 23 years. I couldn't believe how God had brought us together. After he shared his story, I asked him what he did now since he had stepped down from the churches he had planted. Currently he is the President and CEO of the Cherry Street Mission in downtown Toledo.

God has really placed it on my heart that Emmaus Road Church is to be an outward focused church and Cherry Street Mission had been one of the places I intended to connect with in the coming months. Now, instead of me looking him up and going through the loops, he's already contacted me about when we can meet and wants to connect us with 6-8 others who are interested in the same kinds of things we discussed that day.

There are so many other stories I could share, likethe one about the evangelical Lutheran pastor I had lunch with yesterday who promised to help us any way he can, or the owner of a dental lab I met when I was out calling who offered us a place to meet in the building he owns, or the owner of the tattoo parlor who thanked me with tears in her eyes for my prayers when I stopped in her shop to talk to her.

The reality continues to be that God is already at work all around us. We simply need to ask Him for the vision to see where that is and then join in. It's when we put ourselves in a position where He can use us that things like garage sale providence happen. (A friend of mine is in a similar situation in Bolivia. You can read about it here.)

My prayer for you is that you will seek God's vision for where you are and then get involved in the work He's already doing.