What does God look like?
I found a little story the other day and wanted to share it with you.
But before you read, “Potato Chips”, let me share my own true story with you:
My husband had just started his career. We had one child and I was pregnant for our second one.
We found an apartment to rent. Our landlady, a retired teacher, lived upstairs which was strange all by itself because she was very large and in ill-health and could barely manage the steep stairs. Maybe she felt safer with people living below her.
She was cranky, too. But I grew to like her. She had never married, had no relatives nearby and nobody came to visit her.
She died about a year after we moved in.
We we nervous figuring the house would be sold and we would have to find somewhere else to live.
The first thing that happened:
The bank who owned the deed to the house contacted us and asked us if we would be willing to clean out the apartment. For this we could have all the furniture for two hundred dollars which was a good deal as she had some valuable antiques. We kept what we wanted and sold the rest which more than covered the cost.
I kept two beautiful chest of drawers that I dearly love and will never part with they are a constant reminder of that time in our life and how God intervened on our behalf.
We continued paying our rent and eventually her two sisters arrived from Arizona.
The second thing:
We were given the opportunity to buy the house. All we had to do was get three bids and the sisters would sell us the house for the middle bid on a land contract, no money down.
We were also told we could determine the amount of the monthly payment.
I mean, really? Who does that?
I’ll tell you who. God does.
It still continues to amaze me and because we never saw those two women again, I often wondered if they were angels unaware. But someone cashed our checks.
The third thing:
Now we had an apartment to rent which would cover our house payment. We advertised the apartment that was for rent but only one much older man looked at it. He rented it immediately. He, like our former landlord, was too old for an upstairs apartment. (Maybe older people were healthier back then.) We knew nothing about him till someone told us who we was. We learned where he had lived previously and checked it out.
Well, let’s just say it was an estate, not just a house. It was huge, like a castle. It had wrought iron fencing, a gate house, well, you get the picture.
As it turned out, he was a millionaire.
We never had to worry about his rent payment. He went to Florida about six months out of the year. He was like a phantom renter. We almost never saw him. (No, there isn’t a fourth thing where he left us all his money. Sorry, hope I didn’t set up up for that.)
I’ve shared this story at conferences, retreats, churches, etc. It always leaves people with their mouths open. It shouldn’t.
It shouldn’t stun anyone.
After all, God, while He is totally predictable as evidenced in Scripture, He is totally unpredictable as also evidenced in Scripture.
(You’ll need to think a little about the above statement.)
Don’t be surprised how God shows up. He can show up in a cranky old lady with a heart of gold or two older women who blessed the life of a young family just starting out. He can show up in a millionaire who shouldn’t have wanted that modest apartment and certainly could’ve lived anywhere he wanted.
You can choose to put whatever spin on my story you want. It happened exactly as I’ve written.
But if you know Scripture, you’ll have no problem believing every word of it because there are such stories scattered throughout God’s word. And many of you have similar stories you could tell.
And you know what? We need to share out stories. It encourages one’s faith walk.
Now take sixty seconds to read this cute little story. I doubt it’s true but hey, it could be.
Potato Chips:
A little boy wanted to meet God. He knew it was a long trip to where God lived so he packed his suitcase with a bag of potato chips and a six-pack of root beer and started his journey.
When he had gone about three blocks, he met an old man. He was sitting in the park, just staring at some pigeons.
The boy sat down next to him and opened his suitcase. He was about to take a drink from his root beer when he noticed that the old man looked hungry, so he offered him some chips. He gratefully accepted It and smiled at him.
His smile was so pretty that the boy wanted to see it again, so he offered him a root beer. Again, he smiled at him.
The boy was delighted! They sat there all afternoon eating and smiling, but they never said a word…
As twilight approached, the boy realized how tired he was and he got up to leave;
But before he had gone more than a few steps, he turned around, ran back to the old man, and gave him a hug.
He gave him his biggest smile ever…
When the boy opened the door to his own house a short time later, his mother was
Surprised by the look of joy on his face. She asked him, “What did you do today that made you so happy?”
He replied, “I had lunch with God.” But before his mother could respond, he added,
“You know what? He’s got the most beautiful smile I’ve ever seen!”
Meanwhile, the old man, also radiant with joy, returned to his home.
His son was stunned by the look of peace on his face and he asked, “Dad, what did you do today that made you so happy?”
He replied “I ate potato chips in the park with God.”
However, before his son responded, he added, “You know, he’s much younger than I expected.”
Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear,
An honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to
Turn a life around. People come into our lives for a reason, a season, or a lifetime!
Embrace all equally!
Have lunch with God…….bring chips.
