a small glimpse of Heaven

Two days have passed since what appeared to be a disaster ended up being a blessing. I've moved through the moment and had time to reflect. It's actually quite a story that came upon me without any notice. Would you like to hear about it? Stay tuned. Like me, I hope you can see a small glimpse of Heaven in a situation that should have been an unjust disaster.

After days and weeks of preparing to move from Upstate SC to Auburn, Ala, we had made progress on plans to pack, sell, give away, and toss household goods. We then closed flawlessly on the house, which carried it's own set of stress. It took much of the day to load the truck, using a crew I had hired locally, hoping they would work out well. They did beautifully. The truck was so full I had to give the loading crew things like a bicycle, lawn mower, yard tools, etc. that I wanted to take but had to leave. The cleaning ladies came, made the house pristine, took away the last set of garbage and more household goods that I couldn't take. That all went well. After all of this effort, I got to where I saw my household goods as just stuff.

The biggest challenge (I thought) laid ahead. I must drive a fully loaded 26 ft rental truck 300 miles. This part of the move brought on worry and prayer from most of my family. I got up early Sat morning to beat the traffic in Atlanta. Five hours later I arrived at the storage facility in Auburn to unload the truck into storage units I had thoughtfully procured to store household items until we move into the new house in Dec.

The part of my plan I had the most confidence in was unloading in Auburn. I had contacted a moving company that had moved friends before and came highly recommended. I contacted the owner when I arrived by text, and he replied, "be there in 20 minutes." Whew, this journey is almost over. The plan had come together.

This is when the day deteriorated quickly and profoundly. As I waited out front of storage building for the mover, I noticed a young black guy walking toward me. No one spoke at first, then I asked,"are you here to help unload this truck?" He smiled and replied, "yes." I then asked the obvious, "are you alone?" His reply sent shivers down my spine.

"I read a hour ago that David (the head of the moving company) had put an ad out on Craig's List for help to unload a truck in Auburn today. I guess I'm the only one that has taken him up on the offer." There was no hand truck, no experienced crew, just one young strong black guy. We had never seen each other and were seemingly as different as two people could be.

For some reason, none of that mattered. We had a full truck and an empty storage facility and a job to reverse that. That's what brought us together, a mutual task, a shared challenge. There was no talk about what I would pay and if he was even capable of the job ahead. We just started unloading the truck. Auburn, Ala in August. It was hot and muggy. We didn't even know each other's name for the first hour. Gail came to help where she could. There were 2 old white privileged people and one young black adult, who worked from day to day to live. 

We all recognized, we just had a job to do.

There were difficult moments, like a very large and heavy TV chest that was taller than the door to the truck and the storage room. It took us many tries and 30 minutes to finally get it in place in storage. The greater the challenge, the more the three of us came together. ALL WE HAD WAS TRUST. No one questioned anything.

Through the chatting around the work, we found that we had gone to the same schools in Montgomery (many years apart). His aunts, uncles and parents had gone to the same high school as I did. We relished talking about what we had in common and didn't notice what was different. Sometimes he would make a suggestion on how to solve the problem ahead and I would subordinate to his lead. Other times it was the exact opposite. No pride, no fear, no angst, no pecking order. Just 2 old white privileged folks and a young black guy trying to make life work.

As we saw we were close to finishing, I said, "would you like to get paid in cash or by check?" He said, "cash please." There was no mention of amount. The four hours and the job were not a transaction but a shared job to do. When he was not looking, I asked Gail to go closest ATM and get $300 in cash. She returned about the time we were completing the job. The main feeling of the moment was, "we did it." Together, we shook hands and acknowledged a "job well done."

I then said, "is $300 sufficient for your work?" His eyes got real big, but not as big as his smile. He felt so blessed. I think that's more than he expected by 2 or 3 times. His smile blessed me and Gail. Three people, one was a stranger. We only had trust to hold us together. It was enough.

He was blessed by a reward that was based on the generosity of the reward giver, way more than he thought he deserved. We were blessed by his smile. The thought of the injustice of being let down by the moving company was not even on my mind anymore.

Maybe this is how God puts unexpected, spontaneous small glimpses of Heaven in our life? What caught us by surprise and looked insurmountable, a situation that seem unjust at first to all of us, became a blessing because of trust.    

God calls us all to be faithful, not fair, not productive, not capable, not anything, but faithful when nothing appears right to our eyes .....