I’m sure you’ve seen the commercial for a cellular phone company that uses this almost maddening, constant question, “Can you hear me now?”. The man appears to be testing for reception in various locations. Sometimes he only moves a few feet and then asks again, “Can you hear me now?”.

About three years ago, Pat and I felt like we needed cell phones. It’s kinda neat to be “reachable”, especially by one’s Main and Only Squeeze! (g) As our parents have gotten older, we also wanted to be available to them no matter where we were at any given time.

We stayed with the first company for a year. We weren’t real pleased with the fact that our phones couldn’t be used indoors! (g) Pat had to go out in the backyard to talk and couldn’t receive indoors most of the time.

We changed to a different company and had the same results. MFM needed to get leaner (although not meaner) so we gave up our cell phones after the second year.

Then, when Pat went to see her Mom for four and a half months due to our Sick House situation, she had a couple of experiences where a cell phone would have saved her a sack full of trouble. Twice she tried to head for Sarasota and broke down. The second time, she sat in her car at the beginning of a bridge in north Chattanooga, TN, smack dab in the middle of a long construction area. It was cold!!! The traffic was so fast and thick that she didn’t dare to try and get to a phone at an exit ACROSS the bridge. I think all the police were at Duncan Donuts or something! (g) A cell phone would have been so valuable. Finally, at 10:45 pm, the traffic slowed enough for Pat to get across the bridge and call Kathi and William. They were up most of the night taking Pat to her car after the AAA tow and getting her stuff out of her car.

Well, fast forward a bit. We have some neat friends whom I married many years ago. They have an adoption agency and help bring couples who want children from foreign countries together with kids who have little or no life where they now live. They have adopted two of the neatest, brightest Chinese girls.

We hadn’t gotten together to “do” lunch for a long time. Well, I met with him at the local mall food court. I asked him if I could use his cell phone. He graciously allowed me to make a call. He briefly asked me why I didn’t have a cell phone. I explained, not quite as briefly, that in a total faith ministry, sometimes, cuts have to come.

The very next day, Pat and I had lunch with his wife. She walked in with a plastic bag full of goodies. Turns out that part of their business was donating two phones and picking up the tab for the contract. Tears immediately came to my eyes. I hadn’t been praying for a cell phone. Neither had Pat. We had gotten used to not having them for the past year. However, the Lord led us to give them up. He evidently decided that we needed them again. BTW, in both our previous contracts, Pat wanted a cute little feminine flip phone. Guess what came out of the bag for her? The graphic shows you what her cute little flip phone looks like! (g)

I sent the number by e-mail to both my brothers. Our Mom has been extremely ill. Less than an hour after my middle brother got the number, he called me with news of Mom’s hospitalization. The timing couldn’t have been better. The plan they provided is far better than either plan we had before. How good is God?

I’ve written before about what I call “Papa’s Pipeline”. Nope, it’s not about me, Papa Jerry. It’s about God, our Heavenly Papa! I envision this mass of pipes coming into and out of our lives. He puts good stuff into the Pipeline. He then expects us to pass along good stuff (not always material things) to others, especially the Household of Faith.

I just wanted to encourage you to think on these things. What do you have lying around (extra set of tires, extra canned goods, good used clothing, etc.) with which you could brighten someone’s life? Do you need to make a phone call to encourage someone? While on a recent trip to GA to work on Grandma’s Songs II, I learned of the death of the mother of a good friend. I picked up the cell phone and called her. Just a couple of minutes, but it meant a lot to me to be able to tell her I cared!

Please let me know what YOU think the Lord is saying, especially to you in this piece.  Use the “Leave a Reply” box below and respond. I LOVE responses whole bunches!

SOME SELECTED RESPONSES TO “BEWILDERED AND CONFUSED”

– I’ll be praying that God will show you what to do next!

– Jerry, that was a good article about prayer. The LORD has also been convicting me about the need to pray more fervently. And the problem is that it requires work, takes work and the devil is trying hard to convince us that it is TOO time consuming for what you get out of it! Oh, we aren’t lazy, we just don’t want to do THAT kind of work. 😦

– Thank you for the article and will pray that you will be able to find God’s will for your future. I would guess you would be able to find friends wherever you go.

– My heart goes out to you two. I pray that the Lord will resolve this soon & for His glory. How interesting that you mentioned “crossroads.” My Director sent us an email to this effect the other day & then proceeded to build on that with the acrostic in today’s devotional. We also sang all the verses to the old hymn, “Where He Leads, I’ll Follow.” He has promised to never leave us nor forsake us.

– I’m praying that God will show you and Pat, in a mighty way, just where He wants you to be. I know He will work it out . I’m the one who has been requesting prayer for my daughter’s family. Please keep their situation in your prayers and I will keep praying that God will show you and Pat just what He has for you.

– This article about prayer is wonderful. I will certainly be praying for you and Pat.

– Over the last few months God has spoken to me about being more fervent in prayer. I did seriously pray for people, but my prayer life was not like it is now. Now it is something I am excited about getting to in the mornings. I pray other times, but having a special time in prayer with God early in the morning. This is changing my life. I have seen God working more in my life and the lives of others because of my getting more serious about it and seeking out God in prayer. The praise time in prayer is so important. God wants our praise. Just like we like it when we hear our kids brag on us and praise us… God, our Father loves to hear us praise Him… We are His children and we should show Him our love. I am learning so much about prayer. It is exciting to see God work.

– Excellent write up Jerry, As I read it and the other comments, a plaque I purchased many years ago came to my mind. We were getting ready to move to Va. and I was plenty unsettled about having my roots torn up and replanted. The plaque reads ” THE WILL OF GOD WILL NEVER LEAD YOU WHERE THE GRACE OF GOD CANNOT KEEP YOU”. I took a lot of comfort in that phrase and hope somehow it will help you and Pat. I ditto what your writers have to say about the rude dude. I appreciate your sharing your heart and troubles so we can pull together and pray. What is that Scripture, one can do what and two chase away how many thousand? Keep up the great job and keep on keeping on.

– I didn’t want to take up space on your web site, but I wanted to tell you this in case you had never heard it before. I think it is water buffalo or some big type buffalo. Anyway, when there is a threat, they herd all the young, frail, female, etc. into the center of them and then they make a circle around them, butts in and heads and horns outside facing the threat and protecting the others. I have always loved that and thought we as humans need to do the same and protect those in need at the time they are in need with our prayers and any other way we can.