God's Math

This is old article that I wrote for a Christian Newsletter. So this actually took place the summer of 2008.

Phil 4:19
This article started almost seven months ago when our church announced that there would be another Father/Son Rafting Trip this summer. They made this same trip the summer of 2007 and the Father's had a great time bonding with their sons. All of my kids are grown, gone and doing their thing. So I decided to volunteer to take a boy that didn’t have a dad. Well many months went by and the Dad that was heading up the trip said no one had come forward yet. Then things suddenly changed!
It was two weeks before the trip and I get a call on a Thursday afternoon informing me that a seven year old boy had come forward. I was also informed at the same time that I needed to bring $149 to church Sunday to cover both me and the boy. I hung up the phone and immediately said to my wife well this will be interesting I have to come up with $149 in three days and the Lord is going to have to work fast.
Two hours later I am working in my office and my wife walks in and tells me that she was just in the laundry room and the sump pump was broke and not pumping any water. I went down and sure enough it was done and I needed a new sump pump. I am now thinking ok Lord I need money for trip and sump pump. Yep it is getting more interesting by the moment. I wake up early Friday morning and go to Home Depot. I buy a sump pump and new hose and the total is $102.99. This means that with the $149 + $102.99=$251.99.
I guess I should stop and explain that my wife graduated from college about a year and half ago and then had knee replacement surgery and is currently looking for work. So my paychecks are all we have coming in. We are going paycheck to paycheck. Just about every dime is earmarked for bills. So I knew when I went on Friday June 27th to spend the $102.99 that I was spending money from a paycheck that was going to be deposited on Monday June 30th. I was actually spending money that was earmarked for other bills that needed to be paid. Just keep that in mind as I continue with the story.
I rushed home to install the sump pump and get back to my real job which is not plumbing. I was done by 9:00am and in my office working when I receive an email from my insurance company telling me that they made changes to my policy. I picked up the phone and asked what changes were made. The lady explained that back in February when they did the automatic renewal they dropped my discount for having Homeowners and Car on same policy. They were automatically withdrawing my payment on the 7th of every month. I said ok how much is the credit. She said it was $252. Well you see where I am going with this. I found out later when all the paperwork was sent to me that the actual credit was $251.27 so at first I thought Lord you send a penny extra then to found out I was $.72 short. No big deal! Well come to find out about a week later they sent me a check for $175.00 more on top of the credit. I called and found out that the credit was for the car insurance and the check was for the home insurance that was already paid.
Bottom line God never wakes up one day and is taken by surprise or says I never saw that coming. God’s economy is not ours. I still have the Home Depot receipt in my wallet to remind me of what God does each & every day for us. He prepares a way even as we make our way to the point where the need arises. How thankful I am that his riches are limitless and he is not making promises he does not have the ability to provide.