Crate week update

This has been a really long week. 

From finding out that the container to Liberia was at 80% full last Friday, to Saturday (pic of boxes at church and Renee organizing)a great group of people helping to load up my truck and Fred’s van and then Fred, Renee and myself hauling everything collected 32 miles north to Wendricks Truss, (pic of same boxes stored on a truss table at Wendricks Truss {and Renee again posing}) to designing the crate on Sunday after church, to getting the crate built and packed on Monday. (pic of the crate without the boards on it.  Can you pick out the shelves that we hope to install at the clinic in Liberia?) On Monday night, after finding out that we had ‘extra’ room at the top of our packed crate, the owner of Wendricks, Kelly Plunger, decided he would go through the excess clothes at his house with his family.  From a text at 10:00 p.m. Monday asking if they might like baseball caps to packing these clothes in large plastic garbage bags and taking them to top off the crate.  As Kelly said, ‘It was easy going through all of the family’s drawers to fill these bags when someone on the other end could use them.’  Well, on Tuesday morning Kelly’s small contribution topped off the empty space in the crate with (7) large garbage bags of clothes to fill the gaps.  Thanks to you and your family Kelly for sharing your clothes and the materials and labor for the crate.  (Pic of crate being filled w/ 2 of the workers that built the crate.  Notice the extra room at the top that the bags of clothes were to fill the next day)The crate was sealed and the lid was screwed to secure all of the contents of the crate.  Late Tuesday US Special delivery showed up to pick up the crate and it was on its way to Tennessee to see if we could get in the last 20% of the container.  We forwarded the bill of lading to Service to Servants, the container shipper, to give them the dimensions of the crate and the approximate weight.  We (Fred and I) estimated the weight at 1200 pounds and after US Special delivery picked up the crate we were informed that the actual weight was 1981 pounds.  (It appears that Fred and I don’t guess weights very well.)  My hope was that once Service to Servants received the bill of lading with the shipping pro number that we could hold a spot on the container.  Service to Servants policy is that ‘first come, first served’ for packages loaded onto the container is a very fair way to do things since this is a ministry and although I understood this, I prayed that they would plan for our crate’s arrival.  This was where we sat on Tuesday and our prayers began.

Then we had a snowstorm Tuesday night into Wednesday.  I don’t mean a small storm, but 14″ of heavy wet snow that paralyzed most of our county as we had clean up day on Wednesday.  It took me 3-1/2 hours to plow my driveway with my 4-wheeler.  I only bring this up because the snow was something to take my mind off the progress of the crate headed to Tennessee.  I received an email from Pastor Buckley asking about the progress late Wednesday and unfortunately I had no news.  I was on the email list from the trucking firm for notification after the crate was delivered.  Thursday came, and no news.  I did go to the trucking company website to track the crate, but did not get updated information, only that it was set for transfer.  Then today (Friday) I spent many anxious moments looking up the tracking number waiting for an update or an email announcing the arrival in Tennessee, but the business day ended and no news.  I have to admit, my mood was low because as I said in my earlier post, I wanted a guarantee.  God has patience when we always want immediate results.  That is part of His great longsuffering.  God forgive me for my impatience.  I stayed at work and was working on picking out songs for our Sunday morning service (I am blessed to be able to lead worship at my church).  I was listening to Hillsong singing ‘Mighty to Save’ and as I sang along with the music I now realize the words of the chorus ‘Savior, He can move the mountains, My God is Mighty to save, He is Mighty to save. Forever, Author of salvation, He rose and conquered the grave, Jesus conquered the grave.’ should have given me comfort.  In God’s infinite wisdom, during the song I heard the familiar chime of an incoming email.  I opened up the email and it took me a moment to realize I was looking at an email from Service to Servants with an attached invoice for the cost of shipping the crate to Liberia.  Wait a minute, you mean you got the crate and it is going to be shipped out.  My first response was to send a reply email to Service to Servants to say, ‘Does this mean it made it onto the current container?’  I actually got a return email back in a couple of minutes stating this: ‘It has been logged but not loaded yet.  However, I am almost 100% certain we will have room for it on the current container.  I’ll let you know as soon as it is loaded.  Everything else we have received is small packages that will fit beside and above the crate.  I held up on loading the small packages until this crate showed.  You’re in good shape.’  I emailed Chuck Clark, Service to Servants organizer back with a ‘praise God and thanks for the help’.  If God can ‘conquer the grave’ as stated in the song I was listening to, of course he can watch over a 1981 pound crate and plan on its delivery when He believes it should arrive, not when I wish it.  I thank God for answered prayers. 

So that is ‘crate week’ and how God taught me patience.  After I received the emails I made a few calls to share the answered prayer.  I called Pastor Fred, my (understanding) wife Jenny and then Pastor Buckley.  I am so glad they put up with my excitement as I talked their ears off for having this answer to prayer. 

I can’t wait to see how God works next.  Maybe it will be my passport, or my plane tickets, neither of which I have yet, but that is for another post on another day.  For tonight I will head to bed knowing that God is ‘Mighty to Save’ and to deliver a crate also.