What A Day it Has Been!

Today is done. What will tomorrow bring?

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Jeremiah 29:11

As I sit here and contemplate what a crazy day it's been, I can't help but thank God for his blessings and for using Sarah Trull Tinkel and me in ways that I often don't understand.

It all began while I was doing my devotions and praying this morning. I got a call from the social worker for our foster boys asking if we could pick up their brother a day early to come and live with us. Originally we thought that they were going to wait until the end of the school year for Robert to come and live with us. Then, last week, we were told it would be Thursday. However, the boy's home where he was at needed another bed so they asked us to pick him up today. I quickly went to tell Sarah then went to finish the review that I was working on.

While finishing the review, I got a call from a strange number listed as a Nevada number. My caller ID said it was listed as a spam number so I didn't answer. A few minutes later the same number came up on my phone again. I thought I swiped my phone to reject the call but apparently answered it. I heard a voice coming from the phone so I picked it up to ask who it was. It ended up being one of John Allen's friends who had gotten into some trouble and had spent the night in jail. We consider him like a son. We quickly jumped in the car to make arrangements for him to get out of jail. He is staying with us for the night and Sarah is going to go to court with him in the morning. Please be praying for our young friend. Because we live in a small town, I’m not going to mention his name but God knows the whole situation.

While we were dealing with him, a friend who volunteers at a local food bank called to say that they had a lot of food today and suggested we come by. Knowing that we would have a full house of seven wonderful young men to feed, we gladly stopped by. While there I was introduced to a man and asked if I would pray with him. We ended up talking for about an hour while he told me his life story including his running from God. He knew that God was calling him back. Through tears we prayed together and I promised that I would be in contact with him again. Please be praying for Chuck.

After picking up David and Skiler, stopping by McDonald’s to get everyone something to eat off of the dollar menu, and going home to unload the McDonalds food and food bank food, we were finally on our way to pick up Robert in the boy’s home an hour away.

Robert quickly got settled in and soon all of the boy’s wanted to go to the city park to play basketball. They had heard of Sarah’s basketball skills (she played in college) and invited her to come. I watched from the car since, as many of you know, I am not an athlete. Soon, a young man came over to the car. I quickly recognized him as a boy who used to come to our day camps a few years ago with his brother and sister. He apologized for not coming to any of our events for the past couple year or so and explained that the reason was that his mom had left them and he and his sister were now living with their father. The two youngest brothers who were too young to come to day camps were living with their father (a different father from the two oldest) and the middle brother who had still another father, was living with the mom in a homeless shelter in Nashville. After talking for some time with him, I found out where he was living and invited him to come to our teen boy’s Bible study on Thursday nights. Please be in prayer for Christian, his sister and his three younger brothers. It is a tough situation.

Finally, while I was talking to Christian, I look up to see Sarah and another boy sprawled out on the court. Yes, Sarah and the boy had gotten tripped up and their was a wipe out. As I type, Sarah is beside me in the bed and Jacob, our youngest is between us after he got sick and threw up in the bathroom. Please pray for both Sarah, who is aching from the fall and Jacob.

So, I am here contemplating and listening to the sound of a full house of boys and young men settling down for the night. As I do I wonder what tomorrow will bring but know that whatever it is God will be with us.

Thanks for all of your prayers.