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The Midas Touch
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The Midas Touch
Much of my trip has been about batteries and refrigerators. My God has a sense of humor and I often find he entertains me the illogic of the devices I am in charge of. We have been trying to rig a device that would charge a battery during the day and run the refrigerator at night. I use "we" loosely. "We" really means my husband miles away and my following his instructions. He was afraid that wires had come loose and that my car battery wasn't holding a complete charge. He instructed me to find someone that works on cars and ask them to top off my car battery with a charge and to check the connections of the second battery.
I entered the local Midas dealership. I tried to explain to the woman at the counter what I needed. She had to talk to the owner but he was on the phone. As I listened to him, I heard familiar words. He was struggling with his computer network and was obviously talking to his service provider to find the solution. I have much experience working with people in his predicament and I figured this didn't bode well for the mood he would be in when he finally got off the phone.
I waited in the lobby and struck up a conversation with a very interesting woman. She moved to this small town in Tennessee to buy repossessed homes, fix them up, and resell them. She does most of the work herself. I sat in complete awe when she described her work. It involved hammers, plaster, wiring, paint, and lumber. She was interested in my journey and took a card. She is a Christian and attends a local church.
Finally the owner got off the phone. I felt like such a helpless female as I described what I needed. I could tell the handy-woman sitting next to me was amused. I started babbling things about trips, writing, batteries, and husbands. The owner asked what I was writing about. I said I was writing about people's relationship with God. He looked me straight in the eye and said where do you stand with God? I answered that I have a close relationship with him. He asked me what the name of my God was. I realized what he was searching for and answered that I was a Christian. He smiled and said good. He said there were a lot of unusual beliefs out there and he wanted to make sure. I have a very strong feeling that if my God's name wasn't Jesus, he would have witnessed to me. I gave him a Pocket Full Of Quarters card.
He laughed at the technology regarding our batteries and said it was a very creative approach. He checked wires and could find no problem. He charged the car battery but he said it was really fine. He found where some electrical tape had melted and he found some black tubing and made me covers for the second battery in the car. All of this took well over an hour of his time. We talked the entire time. I talked to him a little about his computer problems. Since Midas is trying to move all of their franchises to this Point Of Sale system, I started to go into "sell mode." I caught myself as I realized that I no longer had anything to sell. I also realized without the back up of our networking department, I couldn't help him with his immediate problem.
In the middle of the work, his wife arrived. She expected him to be ready and she was dressed up. She gently looked at him and said, "you don't have a clue, do you?" I knew he had made the mistake of countless men before him. His wife probably had a romantic evening planned and he had forgotten. He asked his secretary if she knew what he had forgotten but she did not. I offered to skip the rest of the repair work and encouraged him to leave with his wife. He insisted on finishing the work.
He was being so nice to me. I hated for him to be in trouble. I went inside to see if I could smooth things over with his wife. She just laughed and said she was used to it. As she waited, she did some office work for him. We became fast friends.
Their fun 3 children were running all over the shop. She told me she was a preacher's daughter and one of 5 children. I asked if all 5 children had remained involved in church. For some reason, I'm meeting a lot of preachers or preacher's children. The answer to this question interests me. She said 4 of them loved growing up in church and 1 of them resented it. He is in Hollywood trying to be an actor and has rejected the lifestyle of his parents. The other 4 children are very active in their churches. I was encouraged by 4 out of 5 still being involved in church but I also realize the pain that family must have over this 1 son. Join me in praying for this son.
Her father preached in a church just 20 miles away. Their church just went through difficult time and had a church split. She said that through it all, they had remembered they were Christians and each church was praying for the other church. I remembered that my grandfather once told me that the church body as a whole grew by splits. She gave me her father's home and work number. Unfortunately, I couldn't reach him. Please join me in praying for both of these churches as they rebuild and grow.
As this wife described the sweet and loving household she grew up in, I knew she loved her parents. I asked if it was hard being the preacher's daughter. She said her father was the same man inside and outside the home and that made it both easier and harder. She didn't have to put up a front and she knew her father's faith was real. She said it did set high standards for her to live up to and that certainly was pressure. As she talked, I thought of the commandment that says "honor your father and mother." I was able to find that commandment 8 times in the Bible. Below is the reference from Ephesians.
Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 "Honor your father and mother"-which is the first commandment with a promise- 3 "that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth." Ephesians 6:1-4 NIV
I realized how much pressure that commandment is. No wonder so many people rebel. When we fall short, it is painful. It would be easy to blame the people who set the standard that we fell short from.
I love the scripture that follows this. It is direction to the father not to exasperate his children. If we are too harsh or demanding, we can turn our children away from a lifestyle that will give them a long life.
Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord. Ephesians 6:4 NIV
It occurs to me that if a father lets love be the overriding rule in his home, everything else will be fine. Discipline certainly has its place but the scriptures say love the Lord Your God with all your heart, soul, and might. It quickly follows up with love your neighbor as yourself. God lovingly disciplines us and we often must lovingly discipline our children. The trick is to discipline without exasperating. I suspect the secret of that is both loving and acting lovingly. I suspect this woman's father knew that love was the secret ingredient to raising Godly children. This father prepared his daughter for the role of a Godly woman.
When he was finished, I asked what I owed. The husband said it was up to his wife. She asked what he done and when I told her, she said to just enjoy my trip. She would accept no payment. I argued that she wasn't going to make any money if she gave services away for free. She said that God took care of them.
As I left, I noticed a Bible scripture in the lobby. I thought of the story of King Midas and how everything he touched turned to gold. This business is a ministry for this family. They are leading people to an eternity of streets lined with gold.
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