A Memorial Day Story

Week of May 26, 2014

When Joy's dad died she requested a military funeral to honor the World War II veteran.
At the grave site she received a folded America flag. When she inquired about a small flag
in front of the stone marking his grave the funeral director said you's have to ask the grounds
crew about that. They said the local boys scouts placed the flags on Memorial Day.The scouts
told her they get the flags from the Department of Defense and the appropriate holders. The
scouts just replace the flags each Memorial Day.

We went to a local hardware store and purchased a small American flag on a stick and stuck
it in the ground in front of the grave stone. Joy asked, "How are we going to get a WWII flag
holder? Do we have to write DOD?"

I shook my head as we walked back to our van parked on a road nearby.As I was getting in the drivers side I stepped on something hard next to the left front tire. It was covered with dust from the road. It was a WWII graveside flag holder. Go Figure. There was no grave nearby containing a WWII veteran.

We went back to her dad's grave and placed the flag in the holder marking his resting place.

Now every Memorial Day the scouts place a new flag in front of that grave site.

In memory of Walter Holloway...
.Holyoke, Ma.

Out of Gas

Week of May 18, 2014

 

I had gone to the mall for a job interview. I spotted a man pushing a broom when I entered and I figured he must know where the main office is.  He was very pleasant and appeared to know a lot about this mall.

 

During my interview for a management position I mentioned the nice man I encountered pushing the broom. Guess I thought I would put in a good word for him since he showed kindness to me. After I described him they smiled and said, “Oh that’s Jeff, he owns this mall. That is one of the ways he gets to talk with the customers.” I was hired as a manager of that mall.

 

After that Jeff and I kept bumping in to each other. He was always cordial and we would have friendly albeit brief conversations. Several months went by and then I learned that Jeff had sold this mall for something around $29,000,000. Shortly after this the new owners gave me an envelope to deliver to Jeff’s home.

 

I wasn’t surprised to find that his home was a mansion right on the water but I was surprised when I pressed the front door bell and it was Jeff who opened the door. He greeted me warmly and invited me into his home. He opened the envelope and told me that it was a sizeable check representing his part of the commission of the sale of the mall. He or someone in his family was a licensed real estate broker. Then he shared with me that his family foundation was inundated by requests for money. He said he was really looking “to find something to give to that is making a difference, let me know.”

A couple of years went by and I was going down a back road near the coast when I see a guy standing by his car on the side of the road. It is Jeff. He has run out of gas and I offer to take him to the nearest filling station. It turns out to be some distance before we reach a station. We chat. I ask him if he is still looking for an organization to give to that is making a difference. He asks what I have in mind. I tell him about a new organization called Gifts From God, which is feeding the hungry and helping families needing furniture or providing a car free to struggling single moms. By the time we are back to his car with a can of gasoline he has agreed to meet with Mike Butterfield, the president of Gifts from God. From that meeting came a much needed seed grant from Jeff’s family foundation.

 

A year later I am driving on Laurel Road in Venice and I am rounding a curve and there is Jeff standing by his car on the side of the road. Yep, out of gas again.  “You have come to my rescue again, it must be time for another grant to Gifts From God,” he grins. It was.

 Who else, but God ,could orchestrate such timely chance meetings like this?

 

Lloyd Keith

Osprey,Fl.

Homeless Job Reference

 

Week of May 11, 2014 

Approximately twenty years ago I was working as a secretary in a steamship company in New Orleans. I had been there a couple of years but because I had studied to be a legal secretary, I was ready to get a job with a law firm. I started to seek God’s guidance to help me find a job where I could utilize my legal training. During lunch hour, I would take my Bible and head behind the office building where there were benches and fountains.

 

While I was out there I would often see homeless people and panhandlers. There was one man in particular that was there every day. Eventually, he came to me and asked what I was reading and I told him. He asked if I was a Jesus freak and I said yes I am. He said I made him feel uncomfortable when he was trying to ask people for money. I told him I had no condemnation for him, but that I thought he seemed able bodied enough to work. I also shared my desire to get a job with a law firm.

 

We became speaking friends and one day he said, “Since you know God so well, why don’t you pray that I get a job.” At that moment I put my hand on his shoulder and started praying out loud. “Not here, not now,” he protested. I just kept praying. That was on a

Thursday. On Monday he came running up to me at lunch. He was clean and groomed and I hardly recognized him. An attorney who he had been asking for money had hired him. I was happy for him but I was jealous. I said (silently of course) God, I am the one who wanted a job with a law firm, have you mixed things up here or what? I was sure God knew what he was doing and I thanked him for giving this man a job.

 

About a week later, the man came to me and said, “I have an interview for you at the law firm. The senior partner needs a secretary.” I thought this would take an act of faith for me to go on an interview at the recommendation of this man. Were they just humoring him? Those thoughts vanished immediately because I knew no matter what; I would do nothing to cause him to waiver in his belief in answered prayers. I was not going to let pride prevent me from going and thereby show a lack of faith.

 

I thanked God for the opportunity, went on the interview and I was hired on the spot. The attorneys still tell people that the best employment recommendation they ever had was from a homeless man. I quickly remind them that God alone was the employment agency. God will answer your prayer when you step out in faith. God also has a wonderful sense of humor.

 

Carolyn Bourgeois

New Orleans, Louisiana

Wedding on her knees

 

Week of May 4, 2014

 

It was October 2. It was my day off and it was my birthday. I was also a month and a half into therapy for burnout and depression.

 

I love to garden and there was a particular flower bed that irritated me. I was determined this day to weed, plant and mulch that piece of the garden.

 

While on my knees pulling weeds, God brought to mind a story about a mom picking up her daughter from work. The daughter was on her knees stocking a shelf. Two men walked by the end of the aisle and the mother heard one say to the other, “That’s where a woman should be, down on her knees.”

 

The words and the imagery pierced my heart. It was my story. I had been told who I was based on someone’s definition of what I could and could not do. The tears came and with every weed I yanked I became more determined to remove the lies from my heart about who I was. I cried out to God to help me.

 

Most of my negative messages had come through religious, male authoritative figures in my life.

Still on my knees by that garden, I looked up to the sky and asked, “ How can I be created in your image when you are , when you are…all MALE?

I stiffened, looked around, but lightning didn’t strike, so I continued weeding not expecting an answer.

 

What came to mind was a picture of Jesus on His knees washing the dirty feet of his disciples. My tears began to flow again only this time they were not tears of anguish but tears of healing, release and pure joy.

 

I felt as if the very hand of God had touched my heart and healed it. At that moment I realized that Jesus, though male, understood me more than anyone.

 

He the King of kings went down on His knees and took the lowly position of a servant to wash dirty feet. He most certainly understood me. He made me and knew every intimate detail about me from the beginning.

 

That day Jesus healed me. He restored my rightful position as a worthy child of God to come alongside as co-image bearers. He had a purpose and a plan for my life, and it was not based on what others said I could do, but based on who God said I was through Christ.

 

Janae Shatley Camp

Paragould, Arkansas 

 Taken from Image Wearers to Image Bearers with permission.