Finding God, Even in the Basement

We've Seen Some Strange Things Since We Moved Out Into The Country

# 3 - Finding God, Even in the Basement!

Before we left for our vacation a few weeks ago, I knew the fuel tank for our heater was running low. But it's so expensive and we were trying desperately to save money for the holidays, I put off calling the fuel company until after our return.

I set the temperature on 65 degrees before we left, though I probably should have set it even lower. We also had an unknown amount of snow while we were gone; the ground was still covered when we returned home almost a week later, which probably didn't help our already low fuel supply.

After arriving home, we were busy with Christmas and the kids being out of school. Before I knew it, a few more days had passed and I still had not called the fuel company. The average temperature has been hovering around 21 degrees, so the heater has been running extra hard.

The thought to check the fuel level crossed my mind a few times, but it was so brief I went on about my normal daily routine and forgot all about it. Thursday morning, just a few days before the New Year's holiday weekend, I called the fuel company first thing and ordered the delivery of 100 gallons.

The tank holds over 300, but 100 is the minimum requirement for delivery so that is what we get. It helps being able to pay it a little at a time rather than filling the entire tank at once. The man on the phone who took my order said it would be a few days before they could get to us, and out of habit, I said "okay, that'll be fine." The rest of the day went on and everything seemed to be alright.

Early Friday morning, I found my children's large stack of coloring books had somehow spilled over onto the floor and made a mess. Knowing that if I stacked them back where they had already been they would probably fall again, I put off picking them up. But each time I noticed them throughout the morning, the thought kept returning to me that I needed to find something to put them in.

Eventually, I realized that they would fit perfectly into one of the white plastic boxes that we had stored downstairs in the basement. A short while later, after laying the baby down for her nap, I went searching for the boxes. But I looked and I looked, with no success.

I knew those boxes were down there somewhere, but just couldn't seem to find them. I went back upstairs and looked in the children's bedrooms to see if maybe we had brought them up and I had forgotten about them, but my search camp up empty again.

Now, being SURE that the boxes HAD to be downstairs, I again made the trip down to continue the search. This time I decided to search the entire basement, instead of just looking where the boxes should have been. I made my way from one end to the other, only to find nothing.

As I started to leave the room the thought came to me to check the gauge on the oil tank while I was there. I even thought to myself, "yes, that's a good idea," as though I was answering someone.

I walked over to the corner of the room and located the gauge, then stood in disbelief as I saw the big red number, 0, as in ZERO! I couldn't believe it; we had run out of fuel in the dead of winter.

I ran upstairs and called the fuel company back, telling them we were completely out. But the man said they were sorry and it would still probably be a few days before they could get to us.

When he asked for my address, this time I gave him just the street address (without mentioning we lived on top of the mountain), somehow hoping that he might not notice and send an emergency delivery anyway.

When I got off the phone I told the kids to pray, I called my husband at work and told him to pray, and then I prayed. It was already after noon on Friday, if they couldn't get to us it would be Tuesday before we had running heat again because of the holiday weekend.

Okay, so I've learned my lesson about keeping fuel in the tank, but I've had electric heat for most of my life and this is fairly new to me. I guess I will list this story in my country life series, for most houses out in the country do have oil heat and this will probably be quite amusing to the country life veterans!

The house was getting pretty cold, the temperature falling further and further. By 4:00 p.m. the real possibility that my family of 6 might be without heat for the next 3 days started to sink in. But I still kept watching out the front window, HOPING.

A few minutes later I saw the big silver truck coming up the highway, I've never been so happy to see a fuel truck in my life. I was so happy I wanted to go out and hug the man and invite him to dinner, though by the time he pulled up to the house I opted for a calmer approach. As soon as he stepped out of the truck I went outside and thanked him for coming to our rescue. What a relief, my family would be safe and warm despite my forgetfulness.

The bigger surprise came later in the day when I realized the white boxes I had been searching for earlier were just a few feet away from me, right inside the screened-in porch. They had been there for the entire year we've lived in this house.

In that split second, I knew that God had led me down to the basement to discover the tank was empty. For if I hadn't gone downstairs, and hadn't found the fuel tank to be empty, I wouldn't have called the company and we wouldn't have gotten a delivery until Tuesday. The note on the receipt even said "deliver early next week."

God is so good, He provides for all of our needs, though many times coming through at the last moment. My husband and I had a discussion about this a few months ago, I asked him what he thought about God always providing at the last minute, and why that might be. His answer was short and precise, and certainly accurate. He said, "because to HIM it's not the last minute, it's just the RIGHT time."

I am thankful for being so often in need, because it is then when we really see God's work so clearly.

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?" Matthew 6:25-26 (NIV)

I know that God has met all of our needs, and I trust that He always will. He brought us out into the country to live a simpler and happier life, even though we didn't have a clue about things like deer on the highway, snakes in the house, or even keeping the fuel tank filled up. And I know that wherever He leads us He will also guide us.