I am amazed at how God works things out, even the smallest things. I had impulsively invited our pastors over for supper the other night, and I was busily getting ready for them this morning when I happened to see a voice mail I had missed on the phone. "Aunt Thelma, I was wondering if you could meet me and my dad for lunch today," my niece's voice asked, calling from Wichita. We had tried to meet last week, but her dad had had an emergency hospital stay ending with his getting a heart stent. He must be doing well! I checked with my husband, and he said we could make it.
It would take them at least and hour and a half to get here, and it was now going on eleven. We would meet them at the restaurant at 12:30. That would still give us plenty of time to get back and complete my dinner preparations. Hurriedly finishing in the kitchen, I put a frozen pie in to bake for the 45 minutes it would take. I had just started to get dressed to go out, when the phone rang. "Patty wants to come, too, so we will leave when she gets to my house," my niece, Judy said of her sister.
Good, I thought, I think I can get the casserole made in the extra time. I had just finished and gotten dressed when I asked Howard to call them and check on their progress. They were still a good half hour away. "I guess I can't go to the country and feed the chickens," my husband mused. Well, I could set the table, and that would be out of the way. I removed the centerpiece, made room for it on the sideboard by moving the candle-holder to a bookcase, and put on the tablecloth.
Suddenly I said, "We could go feed the chickens now if you want, and still have time to meet them at the restaurant," voicing the thought that had just occurred to me. He said okay, so, thinking of our impromptu guests' first impression if they came back to the house, I yanked off the cloth and replaced the fall centerpiece. Halfway to the farm, we realized we'd forgotten the cell phone. "I'm not going out there now," Howard said as he turned the car around. Just then our party called saying they were just crossing the Oklahoma line, about 40 minutes away.
Howard headed toward the house, saying we had to move the truck for our dinner guests to have a parking place tonight. "But you're going to have to help me start the truck, because the battery's down," he instructed me. As he hooked up the jumper cables, I crawled into the driver's seat, my foot getting tangled in something on the floor. What was a pair of his underwear doing there! My unpredictable husband assured me they were the oldest ones in his drawer that he'd grabbed as a rag to clean the dust from his shoes that he would incur at the farm!
We got the to the restaurant first, and after a short wait our guests arrived. What a great time we had visiting with them! We were amazed at how good our (former) brother-in-law looked for 86 years old! It had been nearly 50 years since we had seen him. "Do you want to take us and show us the farm, or go to your house, or show us Cann Gardens?" my niece smiled winsomely when we were through. We took them on a quick tour of the farm (and fed the chickens), then came back to the house. Thankfully, it was company ready.
Catching up by showing them family pictures and visiting, I noticed that the clock was going around. At four, I put the casserole in. Our pastors would be here at five. I began to set the table, and my talkative husband kept the guests lingering at the door. I sprang into action when they left, with everything in readiness. Pastor's wife called and said they would be a little late, her husband had gotten tied up with counselling.
The dinner was a great success and, winding up a good evening of conversation in the living room, we bade our pastors good night about 8:00 o'clock. Thank you, Lord, I thought as I embraced my pillow not long after. I fell asleep reflecting on God's faithfulness and our lovely day!
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