A New Roof

“Remember that God has four answers to prayer: Yes, No, Wait, or “Here is something better.””

―Norman L. Geisler

I don’t know what I was thinking when I addressed my growing congregation one Sunday morning and told them that if they’d be patient with me I would be glad to meet with anyone of them personally.

A few weeks later Ernestine met me at the door as she was exiting the service and said, “Pastor, when you have time I’d like to come by your office for a few minutes.” 

I’d said, “I’d be glad to meet with you.  I’ll be in touch.”

There were so many other handshakes and goodbyes that day, and Ernestine – a sweet little grandmother of the church – was forgotten.

A couple weeks later my secretary stuck her head in my office and said, Ernestine Howard called and said she’d like to make an appointment to come in and see you.

Mentally I kicked myself and said, “You dummy, you forgot!” Of course I didn’t tell my secretary that.  I wouldn’t want my people to think that their pastor wasn’t almost perfect. 

But truth was I was so busy and I had really important people needing to meet with me and there is only so much time in a week and besides I need to carve out time for my family and even a little personal R&R time.

So I instructed my secretary to tell her we’d follow up soon on an appointment.

Ernestine was added immediately added to my “To Do” list. Every day there she was – “Schedule an appointment with Ernestine Howard” – but somehow she just didn’t move up the list. There was always something urgent to be done, someone important to be seen, some crisis to advert.

A few weeks later sweet Ernestine greeted me on the way out of yet another Sunday service and kindly said, “Pastor, don’t forget to set up that meeting.”  Yikes! And double yikes!!

Guilt, especially when serve sweetly, is a wonderful motivator.

Monday morning I am scouring my busy schedule to see if I could find a few minutes for a sweet little ole lady.  Finally I nailed down a very few minutes between two really important meetings.  I figured I’d sacrifice my afternoon coffee break on Thursday and give that to Ernestine.

Run the clock up and its Thursday afternoon. (Boy did I wish I had that fresh brewed cup of coffee. Oh the sacrifices we dedicated pastors make.) 

Right on cue (at least she wasn’t late) I heard my secretary greeting Ernestine as she guided her into my office.  I put on my best pastor smile and said, “So good to see you, Sister Ernestine.  How can I help you?”

Ernestine said, “Oh I don’t need anything.  I had heard that you needed money for a new roof on the old sanctuary and I wanted to pay for it.”  And then she hand me a large check, smiled, and walked out the door.

The ONE THING for today: Note to self – the moment you’re too busy to make time for sweet little ole ladies, you’re too busy. 

Second note to self – Never underestimate little ole ladies.