Over the weekend, we entertained my father-in-law’s 88th birthday. His niece, Haydee and her husband, Tomas came from Corpus Christi early Sunday morning to celebrate his birthday.
We had breakfast at Garcia’s restaurant in Kyle and celebrated his birthday by singing Happy Birthday to him and also celebrated Haydee’s & Tomas’ 1st year anniversary. They left shortly thereafter back to Corpus Christi.
The rest of the family decided we would should take my father-in-law out to eat lunch at Cracker Barrel in Buda. As we were heading out, we received a call from his niece informing us that they were stranded in San Marcos by the side of the road. They said not to worry that they would try to contact a mobile mechanic. It was Sunday and I realized they probably would not reach any one so I offered to help them even though I was not feeling well (small headache and nauseated) from the night before. I also realized that I would be giving up spending time with the rest of the family in Buda if I decided to help them. The Holy Spirit prompted me of the Homily message from the week before when I visited the National Shrine in San Juan.
My recollection of the short Homily from a week ago is as follows:
The priest asked the audience the following two questions: Who are you and Why are you here? We are from God since He created us in his image and we are here to meet, love, and serve others period!!!
So I went home, picked up my tools, and had Tomas ping me their location on my phone. On the way to San Marcos, I asked God to help me since I was still feeling kinda weak from the night before. A few minutes later, I arrived and removed a faulty pulley around the Serpentine belt because it was completely frozen. I took them to O’Reilly’s Auto Part store and they purchased a replacement pulley. I had them request a loaner tool (a tensioner bar) from O’Reilly’s to re-position the Serpentine belt. Fortunately, they had one! I couldn’t believe how easy everything turned out. My energy level was high and my nausea had gone away. The whole process took less than an hour and I was off to Buda to rejoin the rest of the family at Cracker Barrel. God’s timing is good!!! I arrived as they were finishing their food but was pleasantly surprised to be served a plate of hot food that had been ordered for me while I was en-route.
We sat outside Cracker Barrel in their rocking chairs and handed my father-in-law his birthday cards and presents!
Earlier in the week, when I was shopping at HEB I felt God prompting me to pick up a crossword puzzle. I questioned it because I have not worked on a crossword puzzle in more than 20 years but I complied and purchased a 1000 pieced crossword puzzle. Little did I know it would be difficult and take me more than 4 days to complete it. God taught me a valuable lesson while completing this puzzle which I would like to share with you. As human beings, we like to know what our destiny is? However, God doesn’t think the way we do because he knows the past, present and future of our destiny already. He may tell you what you are to become in the future but He won’t share with you the details on how you will get there. As human beings, we like to be in control and know what is coming up.
King David was told by God when he was a young man that one day he was going to become king. David knew the end result and was elated but he did not know the details. Little did he imagine that he would be running for his life for several years and live in a cave before he became king. If God shared with us the details there would be no need for faith. God already knew what the completed puzzle looked like. I just had to be patient and faithful in placing one puzzle piece at a time. God intentionally leaves out the details of our lives so we have to depend on Him every day, not ourselves!
I took the liberty to read Joel Osteen’s latest book, Blessed in the Darkness which talks about how all things are working for us through God’s grace. Joel assures us that God will leads us through green pastures as well as guide us though dark valleys. Joel encourages us to trust that God’s hidden blessings in times of trouble will transform us as we grow closer to him by faith.
It is hard to believe that my 30 day Sabbatical is coming to an end. All in all, it was a good experience. I feel rejuvenated in mind, body and soul. Thank you Kris for the opportunity to get closer to God!