My dear friends in Christ,

The interesting twists of fate that transpired prior to our friend Lee WEI in Malaysia getting her Bible are worthy of a little story. First lets turn the clock back to one night on the internet when I was messaged by Wei via the ICQ random chat feature. That feature along with your floating profile by the way, is quite a powerful witnessing tool. All it takes is just a few words about God working in our lives, and it magically becomes an electronic fishing pole for the souls of men. Leave it out there while on line, and sooner or later you will get some nibbles. Both the churched and those seeking answers in a troubled world will message you. Hoping to find in you some touch of God's love.

One night I was messaged by Wei , asking me about God and how to draw close to Him. Things began to expand from there to where I realized I was working with a non-Christian who was seeking to really know the one true God of the universe. In a few weeks it became apparent that Wei was quite serious and that e-mail was not the complete vessel we would need for her to begin a relationship with our Lord. So I asked her for her address and also asked her if I sent her a Bible would in make it through the mail. She said yes, there should be no problem.

So I began looking over Bibles at the Family Bookstore and found one that might suit her needs. After searching several shelves one lonely Bible jumped out at me. It was called no less, The Beginner Bible for new Christians ! The only one in the whole bookstore. It had all the explanations on each page that would help a new Christian understand more completely what the scriptures were saying. I was just browsing as I didn't have enough money to purchase it at that time. Things with the Kelly budget have been rather tight lately, and after hitting Nancy up for funding a massive purchase of 12 tickets to see Twila and Avalon both, I figured I had better lay low for awhile! Sometimes it takes some convincing that my on line schemes are worth a monetary investment! So I went home with no immediate plans to purchase the Bible.

Here is where the story takes a very unusual turn. One that would prove to be quite a lesson in dealing with temptation and also in God's faithfulness. In a song written and sung by Twila Paris, "Watch And Pray" the opening lyrics go, "The enemy roams like a roaring lion, looking for the sleeping, looking for the sleeping." Well not long ago, he literally caught me sleeping at the switch. Allow me to explain. A week or so after I had window shopped for Wei's Bible, Nancy and I were coming home from our weekly cleaning job at an office in Hammond, a town about 15 miles from our home. We had stopped to gas up the car. I got out of the car, hit the pay inside button and began pumping my gas, stopping at $10.00. When I tried to pay for the gas, the young attendant told me I didn't owe him anything, it was a pre-pay pump. I tried to tell him that I had just pumped ten bucks worth of gas and here was my money but he said again, "Maybe so, but according to my screen you don't owe me anything." The line was getting longer and I could feel the impatience of those standing behind me. Then the man standing behind me chimed, "Looks like it is your lucky day!" To that I said, "Okay, works for me" sticking the ten bucks back in my wallet as I exited the counter.

On the way home I tossed the situation over in my mind. I had just acquired some extra money that I could use either towards Wei's Bible or the purchase of a new Christian music CD I had been looking to get. Boy, now there is a real contradiction in term s if I ever did see one. Using illegitimately acquired funds to purchase holy items ! God must have had a good laugh at that one ! Sometimes we get so caught up in pursing our own holiness, we tend to forget we are just sinners being saved by grace. Nothing more, nothing less. As I rode home however, that angel of my conscience began to work at me pretty hard. Thank God for our conscience ! I began hearing things like, "This is not right George, that fellow could be new and lose his job over that ten bucks" But I kept trying to find reasons to keep the cash anyway. In the big picture of things it happens all the time on a grander scale than ten bucks.

When we arrived home Nancy and I were pretty tired so we were going to lay down for a nice Sunday nap. ( I know your thoughts - this happens on Sunday yet !) Georgie, Georgie, when will you learn? I no sooner got my clothes off and got under the covers when the angel of my conscience gave me one last hard hit, "George, get up and REPENT of this NOW before it is too late and that boy loses his job." With that I arose to my feet and began to get redressed, exclaiming, "I can't do this." "What are you doing?" Nancy asked ? " I have to go back to that gas station" I said. "Why? Nancy questioned me with a strange look on her face." I have to give the boy back his money. I then explained why it had taken me so long when I went to pay for the gas. "Just call him and tell him you will be in later" Nancy said. I then explained that it had to be done now before his relief comes in and they tally the registers. He must be new and could lose his job if things come up wrong.

So back to the gas station I went. This time taking the time to explain how he may have made a mistake on the meters and that he would need the ten dollars when it was time to do the tally. He still was unsure it was necessary for me to give him back the ten dollars but I insisted and he took my name in case I was wrong. I knew I wasn't.

On the way home I asked God's forgiveness for being so selfish and foolish. I felt so much better and when I arrived home, the nap was so much more peaceful. I thought that was the end of it all and it would be some time yet before we could squeeze in a Bible for Wei and the cost of mailing it to her. But God had a big surprise for me coming !

Perhaps here is where I should tie in some scripture to make the story more complete. Proverbs 28:20 - "A faithful man will be richly blessed, but one eager to get rich will not go unpunished." And also - Matthew 19:29 "And everyone who has left houses (getting up from the nap and returning to the gas station) or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred (key word hundred) times as much and will inherit eternal life."

Story Turns Again -

A week or so after all this had transpired I was approached by the union steward as I sat down at my position to sign on at work one evening. He was about to leave for the day but was glad he had caught me. He told me to hold out my hand, close my eyes, and promise that I would never say anything bad about IBEW Local 21 from this day forth. I did so. He then laid in my hand a union refund check for $100. !! It seems the union had gone over their books for the last twenty years and it turned out they owed the members some money back. Too bad my time with the company hasn't been bridged yet, or it would have been $1000. I am on my second round with Ameritech after taking my pension and lump sum in 1995. But I am not to be greedy, His gift of grace was sufficient for my needs.

Happy Ending -

If we are faithful to God, He will be faithful to us. I didn' t realize what the $100 gift really was until much later that night on the way home from work. As the green Saturn cut through the chilly fall air, it hit me. God had just blessed me for being faithful to Him and making right the situation at the gas station a few weeks ago. Wow !! Wei can now get her Bible and I can finally get those CD's I have had my eye on! The next day I went back to the bookstore to get the Bible. It was still there, all by itself, just waiting for me to purchase it. With CD's and Bible in hand I had one more item to purchase yet. A plaque of some kind for my new and advancing communications room and ham shack in the basement. I walked over to the items on the wall near the cash register. Within a minute I had found the perfect item to commemorate this intense story. A long rectangle wood block with the words, "God Is Faithful" burned deeply into the wood !! How very fitting ! It now sits on the windowsill just above the computer area between several coax feed lines to my antennas. Behind it is a cracked basement window pane that will probably stay in that state because it is quite warm in the room anyway. How perfect, the cracked window is to remind me, we come to God out of our broken-ness, and He is faithful to forgive, restore, and heal us.

Praise God for His love and forgiveness FOREVER ! \\o/ Amen and Amen !

George - FIL Pray-ers 1