Dear Father God, what can I do? What have I not done?
Back in May 2024 Jess and I prayed, we prayed many days straight and heard one answer… “GO!” and that is what we have been doing, but somewhere along the way I can’t help but wonder if we have made a couple left turns, costing us money… costing us time? Don’t get me wrong, of all the crazy trips I have taken and all the crazy Ideas I have started, failed and succeeded at… Sam’s Place is bigger than all of them, probably bigger than all of them combined.
As Jess and I start running low on our resources to fund this adventure, I look around and think….
WHAT CAN I SELL? We have been open for over a month, we have one client… everything we read, everyone we talk to, everything we know says…. This is an urgent need… housing! So, where is everyone? We have rooms, we have employees, we have food…. We don’t have people… and my funds are getting thin, everything I projected is right on cue, everything is exactly as we planned, everything is ready… Is it actually a valuable need? Then where are the people?
Last night a prayer went into the heavens from my mouth, this morning my prayer is “Lord, what else can I do? Show me the path! I will walk the path! Who do I talk to? What else can I do? I have not lost faith in this endeavor, we still believe this is the right thing to do.
I think of the promise made to King David, about building the temple, and how that promise was filled through David’s son. Is this too like the temple? Am I to prepare a way for another to walk into completion? I’m ok with that as well, although I am tempted to stand on my balcony and say “LOOK AT ALL THE GREAT THINGS I HAVE DONE!” like Nebuchadnezzar did, am I to start walking on all fours and eat grass like an ox? Am I to go into my inner room and pray? Or am I the one standing on the corner with long tassels from the corners of my robe, lifting my hands high and praying in a loud voice so all the people can see how religious I am? I hope that’s not what I become.
We pray, in earnest, pleading to the Lord to fill our need, providing us enough to make it, to not lose our home that I built, but if that is what we need to do? Then at least we can become our own tenants… I am not worried about us, I have been put into bankruptcy twice, survived losing my retirement three times and digging out of a mountain of debt while being a single father of three boys, they can testify that I don’t quit easy… My bride is not nervous because she knows I will always provide and protect her, she is safe… I have built a successful HVAC business, I know how to survive, I guess I was just hoping it could be easy for once.
What do we do when our plans don’t align with Gods, or… when our timing for the plans God has for us is faster than God’s timing?
Well, that’s simple, we pray, we listen, we trust God, every step of the way. And we do.
On this exceptionally warm Sunday morning, I thank the Lord that heating Sam’s Place hallways and rooms is so much cheaper today than last week… I give thanks in all situations, because God is and will always be the one driving the bus, I am simply a tour guide, talking about the places God is taking us.
Stay safe on the lakes and on the trails, Charlie.