Hanging Shingles and Helping Souls

There’s no way I would ever have signed up to be a pastor. I was going to be a professional musician, tour the world, have lots of fans, and live big. God knew my plan, and He knew it was going to take a bit of bait and switch to get me with His program. This is why I call Him “Jehovah Sneaky.”

It all started with an 80-year-old man putting new shingles on his lady friend’s leaky roof. He only had the strength to climb the roof with a single shingle each day. He would nail it down, rest, then climb down. It was all he could do.

My father-in-law saw this and decided I needed to climb that roof and help that old man get the job done. Still wanting to impress my beautiful bride’s daddy, I got to work.

When I finished, the old lady offered me a glass of lemonade to thank me. Leanna had come over, so we went inside. When she opened her refrigerator, lemonade was about all she had. Leanna made a run for the store and we filled her fridge and cupboards.

The old lady was thankful; the old man wasn’t. “What about me? I need food too,” he said, noting several of his friends needed groceries too. Leanna and I loaded up the back of my truck with bread and other essentials and took them back on Saturday, thinking five or six people would show up. He brought over 30 elderly people.

Within a few months, we were visiting over 70 houses every weekend to deliver food and pray with the people we were blessing. It was the start of the OpenDoor Food Bank, which was the start of OpenDoor Church as we know it.

God knew I wouldn’t sign up to be a pastor, but I’d say yes to helping a hungry neighbor. Now, the food bank feeds thousands of people, and our church blesses even more. I’d say that’s a miracle on a hot tin roof, wouldn’t you?

What is God’s plan for you? Have you been running from a blessing? Stop!