I’d been driving for over 10 hours and fatigue had started to infringe on my exhaustion. The 26 foot Penske was bouncing like a wild bronco and my entire body was beginning to resent itself and every muscle ached. Molly, the basset hound, was slumped over, not sleeping, not staying awake…somewhere in between.
Sarah called and it wasn’t very good news. The car that she was towing behind my pickup, had shifted about 6 inches and was in danger of sliding off the car trailer. She was already really struggling because we had been driving so long, and she was only 2 weeks from her back surgery. She was panicking, and so was I. We had only a few miles left to drive, but it was raining and a lot of traffic.
Periodically we had been in contact with Michelle, or friend in Tampa, who was coordinating the unloading of the trucks. I called her and asked how it was going. We were coming in about 4 hours later than we thought we would and were starting to worry about people being available. When she said, “Well, it’s looking it’s just me and Carly (her 4 year old),” I truly started to worry. I remember praying, “God, please help us…we need a miracle.” We were facing unloading a 26 foot truck, a 10 foot truck, my Tundra, and a car trailer…by ourselves (as in me and Sarah).
But it was really great to pull in to our subdivision. Christmas lights were already being put up by our neighbors and I really felt like I was coming home. I wheeled the massive box truck around the turns in my subdivision and drove the last few blocks to my home. I thought that there must have been a party going on, it was Sunday night (football) of course, and it was very hard to navigate through the many parked cars. We got everything parked, the car didn’t come off the car trailer, the rain started REALLY coming down, and there was Michelle, the ONLY person in my driveway.
And then the garage door went up….
There were 10 crazy folks screaming in my garage with a huge banner that read, “Welcome Home!” And of course, I began to cry. Not only were they there, they immediately began to unpack all the vehicles. Sarah never had to touch a thing. It was made even easier by the fact that most everyone knew where everything went already.
Doug: “Where do you want the couch?”
John: “Where it was before.”
Doug: “Awesome!”
Like that, it was truly amazing. Not only that, but when we came in to the kitchen, there was a FULL THANKSGIVING DINNER waiting for us. AND they had purchased groceries and filled our pantry and most of our refrigerator.
In all my life, I have never seen a group of people model true love and “put skin on Jesus” like these people. I do not know what I did to receive such an amazing gift, but God answered my prayer, He truloy provided a miracle. Sarah and I slept in our bed, in our house, and spent the evening with our friends in Florida. We were TRULY home. Thank You God, and thank you to everyone who had a hand in the miracle from last Sunday. God is STILL using this house for ministry…and I pray that He continues to.
