Dave from Heaven

I definitely hear the Lord. I definitely see the Lord.

The truck is broke and while I don’t take that as a sign from God, it has provided me many opportunities to see and hear God. I had to turn my fear over to the Lord for it to be lifted. And that’s not easy. Heck, I don’t even let my husband balance our checkbook because I have control issues. Its not that he can’t add and subtract. It's that I can’t turn things over to others. Especially my fears.

The truck will cost more than we have in the bank. Due to my efforts to get us out of debt we cannot apply for credit. Yes, its harsh but we had to do it. We can’t live without the truck. If big daddy don’t work he don’t get paid. And we are probably only 4 paychecks from homelessness. That ain’t no lie.

We have hauled that truck from garage to garage, spending money at each stop, and yet it still doesn’t run. It was at the dealership last week and they wanted my soul in exchange to repair it. I sat at work stunned by what they told me it would take to fix it. I thought, let me call around and see if there are any options. The first call, no one answered at the garage. Second call connected me to a man name Dave.

He listened to what us and the truck had been through and he asked if he could look at it. “No charge, just let me see if there’s anything I can do.” I told him I didn’t have a way to get it to him until the next day. He asked where it currently was and I told him. “Shoot, I’ll just go pick it up. It’s just down the road.” I explained that the dealership was going to charge us $72 just for looking at it and I didn’t have a way to pay that until after work. Dave said “I tell you what, I’ll put it on the American Express and put it on your bill here. If that’s ok?”

How could that not be ok. I’d been praying all day that the dealership would be able to fix it for a price we could handle. I called my husband with the news and we both breathed a sigh of relief. I was still concerned about how much it might cost but I was calmed enough to finally sleep over the weekend.

Monday and Dave calls. “Bad new, someone cut the harness wiring and it will have to be replaced.” Unfortunately this takes the price up $500 over what I can get my hands on in the next week. Dave has his office run a credit application for 6 months same as cash but it comes back denied. Dave apologizes like its his fault. I explain that we are cashing in some stock to pay for the repairs but won’t be able to get it for a couple of weeks. I tell him I’ll have to speak to my husband and see what we can do. He tells me to call him back and let him know what we want to do by 3:30 so he can order the parts.

I have a screaming match over the phone with my husband. The stress of this is killing us both and we are taking it out on each other. I sit in my office and cry silently. I start ticking off the things I have to cancel due to not having two vehicles, can’t take the girls to the rodeo, can’t pick up the girls from school, can’t go to Dallas with the Youth Group next weekend. That really makes me start to sob. I’ve been looking forward to this trip with Big Princess and others are counting on me.

I confide in God that I don’t any answers. “I thought you kept the first garage I called from answering so that Dave would be the one to help us out of this mess. I guess I was wrong.” Lord knows, I hate to be wrong.

A coworker tells me she can take me home and it's about that time. My phone rings, it's Dave.

“Hey, I’ve been in and out of the office and wasn’t sure if you’d called back.”

I explained that we can’t get our hands on the addition $500 the wiring problem is going to cost. I can hardly talk.

“I’m going to order the parts anyway. We’ll figure this out. You’ve got a checking account, right?”

“Yeah”

“You’ll just post-date me a check for the rest. I know ya’ll need this truck and I don’t want it. So we’ll get this done for you.”

At this point I start crying again and all I can do is whisper, “Thank you”. He says something more but all I can do is whisper “Thank you” again and hang up.

So the drama’s not over but I’m turning it over to the Lord. See, the money to pay for the truck isn’t just laying around in savings earning interest. That money is the mortgage, the vehicle, the utilities, the insurance payments and they are all do now. So we will be late with everything while we wait for the stocks to be cashed in and sent to us. If there is a problem getting that money we could be living on the streets pretty fast. I am not afraid.