MENistering Angels

(Suffolk, VA: 12/31/2009): As many of you know we had an odd Air Force career. It was odd in many ways which I won't go into here, but one odd thing was that it seemed we always had "out cycle" moves. Most often the military tries to move members during late spring and summer in order to allow families time to get settled, kids into schools etc. However, our moves seemed to always come in late fall or winter. We moved in December a number of times. We're not sure whether it is God's sense of humor or what, but getting the contract on the house and moving in December seemed almost normal to us. We added to the adventure the decision to move ourselves. In order to meet the timelines to make it to the mini-family reunion we had scheduled for 1/15 to 1/18 in Del Rio, TX we needed to load the truck and be underway no later than 1/4; earlier if possible. We scheduled the load for 12/31, New Year's Eve day. We were uncertain whether we could get enough strong backs on that day, but we contacted our church and got the word out several weeks ahead. For some reason most men don't like it when someone says of them, "you're a real angel". Maybe it's because we picture angels as wimpy...floating around on clouds playing harps. But angels are God's messengers and warriors. And that is what showed up at our house on 31 Dec...warrior men...15 or so angels tag teamed to move 8 rooms of boxes and furniture from our 2 story, 3000 sf house and load it in a 10 x 26 Penske Moving Truck in a remarkable 3 plus hours plus. One angel was particularly heaven-sent - Gerald is father-in-law to one of the men from church who came to help. Gerald had owned a moving company and was super-experienced in loading trucks. We were unsure if we could get all our stuff in the truck and he packed it so well, we came very very close. At the last minute we had to rent a 6 x 12 U Haul trailer for the small amount that was left. Thanks to these men we were able to load everything on 12/31, clean the house on 1/1 and drive away on 1/2. God's clear provision and blessing allowed us to finish 2009 on a high-note of thanksgiving for his goodness and begin the New Year in even greater anticipation of what he will do in this next stage of our lives.