Remember this from the J-Thread?
2/19/21
Sometimes, I tell a story that fits the topic we are studying, and sometimes the connection doesn’t seem obvious at first. The first story is one you may have read before in this thread.
Five years ago, I moved from Florida to Massachusetts, in the opposite direction of most people my age, to care for my Mom. This involved breaking a lease, quitting a Music Ministry, Giving away all my furniture (including all the gear for a 16-Track Digital Recording Studio that took up a whole bedroom), saying Goodbye to all my students and clients, and driving 1700 miles on I95 North. I arrived in Quincy MA,with my car, my guitar, my bass, my Harley, and my Dog. (There’s a Country & Western Song in there!). Less than six days later, my Mom passed away, and I had to find somewhere to live. After six months of living in one room of Mom’s house while trying to sell it, I finally found a cute little trailer in a mobile-home park on the South Shore. Now I REALLY was living like a Country & Western Song! I had the guitar, the bass, the Harley, AND a Trailer!
Anyway, every morning as I walked the dog, the front window of an abandoned trailer caught my eye. It was a stained-glass panel, about 16”x 20”, of an animal that looked like a goat. It was obviously an amateur piece, and did not have the refinement of professional stained glass. It looked as though perhaps the former inhabitant of the trailer had taken a class in stained glass, and was so proud of his achievement that he had it glazed into the picture window. It was embedded, and would take a delicate operation to remove it. Still, it intrigued me.
The inside of the trailer had been stripped bare, and it had a Sheriff’s Notice on the door condemning the property. A thought went through my mind that the window didn’t belong to anybody now, and it was just salvage...so why not just take it? But that would be stealing. So every morning and evening, I would walk by the trailer, and the “goat” would look out at me, saying...”Why Not”. And I would say, “NO.”
Three years later, an older couple bought the trailer to restore it. I befriended the woman, named Cathy, who was an artist like me. I mentioned the stained glass panel.
“Oh THAT?” she laughed. “I’m not into goats. You can have it, because we’re doing a complete demo on that wall.”
Days went by and work progressed, and one day Cathy showed up on my doorstep with the panel, which had been carefully removed from the window. I cleaned it framed it, and hung the “goat” in a sunny window in my dining room. The couple went to Florida for the Winter and ended up being unable to fly back to Massachusetts for almost eight months due to COVID. They are home now.
The second of my three stories today is one you read recently about the the Fasting in February 2020, the Pastor’s Prayer for a Live Worship team, and the seven new people who showed up at his church on the First Sunday of Advent 2020. As you recall, one man plays drums, his wife plays keyboard, another was a guitar player, his friend works sound, another is a teacher, and his wife a worship leader who knows ALL the new songs. And then there was me. I play piano, guitar, and bass, but there was already someone who plays guitar and another who plays piano, so that left the bass. It was the bass I brought from Florida, that I played when I was Music Minister at the Biker Church. So that ministry was restored, and in a big way, because although our drummer is loud, I can still hear myself. (The drummer in Florida was so loud that you could hear him on I95 while speeding by our outdoor church! LOL!)
Third story...and this just happened last night. It was snowing, and I still haven’t gotten my skills of winter driving after 16 years in Florida. Peg, the Worship Leader, and her hubby Jose offered to pick me up for rehearsal, and I gladly accepted their kind offer. The rehearsal went well, but it snowed the whole time and I was so happy to be driven home. Jose carried my bass into my living room and saw the stained-glass panel hanging in the window. It was dark outside, so the design on the stained-glass was barely visible.
Wow,” he said, “It’s the RAM CAUGHT IN THE THICKET!”
I knew exactly what he meant! The reference is to Genesis 22, when Abraham was asked by God to give up the most important thing in his life, his son Isaac. At the last minute, God provided the Sacrifice, the Ram (which is a male sheep and fits right in with our study) and spared Isaac’s life. Everything was restored to Abraham, and his Faith in God was credited to him as Righteousness.
God’s timing is not always our timing. Sometimes His answers are right in front of us, but we don’t see them right away. May these little stories bless you as much as it blesses me sharing them.
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I do recall that but am glad at having my memory refreshed. As in your J-thread today, that is an example of God actualizing His many plans for you.
Remember these stories well, you also have a gift in writing, my dear FRiend. You bless our every day with them. God bless.
My stained glass story is far less significant, except to me.
Our first home was a Victorian home with four bay windows, beveled glass window facing east that shot rainbows across the dining room and living room floors, and a 2x2 foot stained glass window at the landing between the first floor and the second. We loved the home, although it was old, built in 1906.
I lost my job in Cleveland and got one in Peoria. We had a week to find a house. We looked at 20 homes in 3 days. Nothing was right. Then we found this home with a beautiful addition to the dining room, paneled in cedar with a jacuzzi in it, four skylights and ten vertical windows. That sold us the house.
After we agreed to buy it, we walked out the house and I noticed by the front door, two stained glass windows of lilies. I took it as a sign from God this was to be our home. I hadn’t prayed for glass windows but God gave them any way.
After 33 years, I’m still happy here.