I’ve written before about the great blessing God brought into our lives. A couple of friends donated cell phones for our use. They pick up the cost EXCEPT what the cell phone company calls “overage charges”.

Please don’t misunderstand; these phones have been a blessing in many ways. We are able to stay in touch with each other and those other family members with the same company, but I am able to use mine as a ministry tool. Several folks have come to Jesus as the result of follow-up from my cell phone after 9:00 pm when the minutes are “free”. I have a list of nearly two dozen older people whom I call every Saturday just to encourage and say “I love you”.

However, our cell phone provider (like all others, I’m sure) has a built in policy regarding “overage minutes”. Pat and I are each allowed 600 peak time (daylight) minutes per month. We have unlimited calls between each other and others with our same company. We each have 3,000 minutes from 9:00 pm to 6:00 am. Monday through Friday and on week-ends. It’s those minutes I use to call readers of Inside Out who’ve shared prayer requests, etc. with me by e-mail.

A couple of times, largely due to our not understanding all the intricate little details in the contract, we’ve gone over our allotted minutes into the realm of “roaming”. Roaming is a major No! No! It costs .45 cents a minute to talk to someone if you’re out of range of a cellular tower. Well, that happened this past month.

One of the problems we’ve run into up in GA is that due to the hills, hoots and hollers, sometimes we’ll be in and out of range several times in a mile or two. Evidently, we “guessed” wrong sometimes on whether the little blinking triangle was blinking or solid. A blinking triangle is safe; a solid triangle is not. You can believe that we’ll be a whole lot more careful to make sure that our triangle is blinking fast and regularly in the future! Writing that overage check was painful.

I’m sure you’ll have keen insight into lessons to be learned from this story. I decided that I’m really thankful that the Lord is available to us in prayer any time, 24/7/365. We’re not dependent on a fickle blinking triangle. He doesn’t have CALL WAITING! We get through the first time, every time.

How about sharing YOUR experiences with communicating with God? Just use the “Leave a Reply” box below and share. You can also share prayer needs and praise reports for His goodness.

SOME RESPONSES TO “WIPER BLADES”

– See, the Lord does look out for all of us in such simple things that it is unbelievable to nonbelievers… But I have seen many times that things like this will happen, and ya might even say that Lucio was an angel sent to help ya, even though he is human…. smiles… God knows our special needs, and sends others to help us….

Am so glad to hear that you guys survived the storms and things. Should be getting back to normal for ya soon… and yes, will be praying for Patrick and Tim. The Lord knows how to handle things in ways we can’t begin to understand. He is holding both of them close to His heart. Am anxiously awaiting news about your moving and your new home. Any pics of the new house yet?

– You know, it never ceases to amaze me how God looks after us, even when we don’t think we need it. How many times have we been helped by someone, and not realized that “Providence” has helped us?

Sounds as though our Lord is really letting you know you are going where He wants you to go. He’s already provided you with the necessary help to take care of Tonka. Isn’t He great? (g)

– You have your house! We have ours. Paid for this month. It has been a long time paying on this place! Will pray for Tim.

– I’m so glad that you and Pat are okay. My prayers were with you and many other friends in Florida, I will pray for Patrick and Tim. May God Bless you all.

– Well, Jerry, it sounds like you have experienced wipeout – of a physical nature with all the running around. Thanks for a good piece – no special comments or insights, but thanks also for calling on the phone, it’s nice talking to you when you do.

– You know the prayers are there, especially for you and Miss Pat. Speaking of your better half. I took time out to listen to the music clips of Pat singing. Wow, she has a very beautiful voice!!! I loved each one except “The Hole In The Road”. Couldn’t get it to play for some reason, it kept going back to “All My Life”. Does she have a cd? I’d love to have one, I mean buy one, I don’t mean to give it to me.

You know what I mean. Please take your rain and wind back. It came up here, too! Really, you don’t have to share it, we are ok, we don’t need it, grin, Have a great rest of the week. Hope God blesses all of you in FL and sends lots of help for you!

– Praise the Lord, Jerry!!! I was thinking about you. Now I pray that Ivan will leave you alone as well!!!

– We’re relieved that you did not have damage from the storm. God bless.

– ANYWAY…… windshield wipers……For some reason getting new windshield wipers reminded me of us. When we change our crabby attitudes to new Christlike ones. Then we see clearly and things work a lot better. And we have to change the whole set of attitudes or things still won’t work right until we do.

Ever notice how hard it is to conform to His will? I find myself awfully stubborn sometimes. I don’t know WHAT is wrong with me (oh… it is my old sin nature, huh?), I really do know better.

I was cranky on Sunday. I decided I had to write a letter of apology to someone. I did and delivered it. It was a minor thing, but when the Holy Spirit convicts me, it is best to jump to it and deal with it or I’m liable to end up in the same mess again.

Isn’t it hard to immediately do what you feel the Spirit is leading you to do sometimes? Hop to it…… like the energizer bunny.

– I’m glad you are okay. Those hurricanes can be really bad and I know a lot of people have suffered.

Thanks for reminding me that I need new wiper blades. I never think of it until I’m caught somewhere in the rain. I liked your story. Isn’t it wonderful to find people who are so helpful? When we moved from WV, one thing we hated to leave was our mechanics at Street Ford. They always took good care of us and became friends. Reminds me of another story that I should write sometime.

– You asked for a response…nothing happened here. I mean nothing happened to my apartment in Tampa. Tampa sustained some really bad flooding. I work for the Home Depot here. We have a 2 to 4 hour wait for plywood. Everyone is hoping that it goes to the east coast, but that isn’t good for those folks, either. It is weird watching those folks at the Home Depot…so scared and frustrated, not very many rude folks with this storm. With Charley, people were frantic, rude and just nasty. People are afraid now because of Charley.

It is easier to help these kind of people but it is different not understanding them…here is my point. We, meaning the people of Christ, have been blessed with a peace. That is if one accepts the peace. I had my home burglarized about five years ago. They took all my worldly possessions. I can always start over again. Yes, some were heirlooms I won’t get back. I remember someone having a sticker on their house when I was a kid. it said something to the effect that everything in the house belonged to God…so if you took it, you were stealing from God not them. So you had to deal with God, not the “owner” of the house. You may want to let people know that you give your heart to God, but have you let God have everything? So when you do that, it just makes it easier on yourself. You have peace knowing that God will take care of you.

I was staying at a friend’s house for Charley. I packed an overnight bag. No jewelry or expensive things. Either I had a home to come back to or I didn’t…(being on the coast means we worry more about flooding). I used to work years ago at a Burger King . I loved it when the Mennonites told me “peace be with you”. It really did bless me with peace…working in fast food you need it. When they did that, God blessed me with peace. God will bless folks with peace if they let him.

I am happy about your new house and I hope that you and your wife will actually “live” in it. May the Lord bless you with it, and now you may truly have peace that your wife can live in a well house.

– Thank you for sending me my very own copy of your New Inside Out. There’s so much to be thankful for as we through the tough times, when we wonder if we’ve done the right thing with the right motives are times when we draw close to Him. We yearn to hear His voice…to hear Him say…”Yes, child, you were listening; you did the right thing…” or, “Come child, let’s talk about what you did. Do you want to learn from me” Your everyday life stories really encourage me to look for Jesus in what happens each day. Thanks for the encouraging word!