God Knows Before We Ask!

While renovating the building which now houses Resurrection Life Church, my routines included regularly reading through the pages of Craig’s List, an online classified ad site. By daily searching for needed materials, tools and services, over the course of several months we reduced the cost of renovations by purchasing surplus materials from contractors, lightly used tools, and manufacturers’ overruns.

One of the best Craig’s List experiences was the day we discovered over half of the needed interior doors. Our needs were unique, which makes this story even more remarkable. Because we planned to use part of the building as school classrooms some doors had to have "lights" (contractor’s language for windows), commercial grade closers, and codes required that a few had to be fire rated.

The listing caught my eye. "Interior commercial doors with hardware. Best offer." I called the listed number, the home office of Cento Fine Foods in West Deptford, New Jersey. I quickly learned that the doors matched our need and dared to ask, "What is the ‘best offer you have received?’" The answer, "None, yet." Since we didn’t have any money to offer, I suggested that Cento Fine Foods might benefit more by donating the doors and hardware than by selling them. Within a few minutes one of the owner-managers of the family foods business said, "Come and get them!"

When our volunteers began sorting through the donation, we discovered that we had more than half of what we needed. The doors even swung in the right direction! Doors of equal quality retailed for more than $125, the hydraulic closers cost more than $100 and the metal jambs were equally expensive. The added cost of the "lights" was an additional $75 value. Each of the 20 openings that Cento Foods doors and hardware filled would have cost more than $400 each, or $8,000!

When Jesus taught his disciples to pray, he said, "And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him." Matthew 6:5-8

Through the more than 45 years of our pastoral vocation, we have been formed by fervent, simple prayers offered by people who eagerly desired that the Name of our God be glorified. When Highway Tabernacle walked through the months of challenging renovations, multiple breaking and entering episodes, municipal red tape, and faith-testing uncertainty, the congregation’s prayers were heard all the way into heaven! And the God to whom we prayed answered as surely and as powerfully as He answered Elijah when he contested with the prophets of Baal.