Face forward - even if not moving forward

God has a wonderful way of keeping us grounded and letting us know of important happenings. Millard Fuller, the founder of the international organization and movement Habitat for Humanity, died this past Wednesday at the age of 74. The only reason I found out was getting a free newspaper before heading off to class that morning.

CNN has an article with a great picture of Millard sweating in the background behind former President Bush. Check it out here. I did a quick check on CBC to see if they may have had a clip on his death. They did not. You absolutely suck CBC that you didn’t have anything on this man whose organization has built thousands of homes for Canadians since the late 70’s. I was one of those ones in 1993.

That’s right, gentle reader; my family was the first to receive a Habitat home in London, Ontario at 300 Phyllis Street. It was a nice simple place near the end of a small street. John and Lisa Schunk embodied the spirit of what Habitat was about (John dedicated 2 full years to getting the local affiliate going and making plans for the first house) and my ex-wife and I both liked them very much. We did our volunteer hours and would have loved to do more, but there was internal posturing and politicking with the affiliate board members. They pushed out the Schunks and certainly had no intention of following the letter or spirit of the Habitat manuals that I read in the office. A call to the International Office in Americus, Georgia made me realize that my idealism met the reality of the stinky side of human behaviour. Some people only wanted to be associated with Habitat so they could receive the praise of others.

Once our volunteer hours were done, there were no more dealings or contact with Habitat in London for years. My understanding is that things are much better in London now. Don’t get me wrong: what Habitat for Humanity stands for is still an exemplary goal and I believe a God-ordained ministry. I also believe the majority of affiliates operate with the best of intentions—in spite of the involvement of not-so-nice people.

My marriage did not go so well even after the blessing of owning our own new home. It was relinquished when the separation papers were signed in 1998. The interior was remodeled and the home given to another family. They still live there, I believe.

Thank you, Millard Fuller, for giving us the “theology of the hammer”. Rest in peace with Jesus.

I had a couple of remarkable incidents this week. The first was replacement adjustment knobs for a K&M microphone boom stand. Our little church has had this stand for years and has taken a lot of abuse. At first, it seemed these knobs wouldn’t be available to purchase. An e-mail to Germany to the manufacturing company changed that. I received four replacement knobs Thursday from the Canadian distributor. A PDF of the exploded parts drawing was also sent for future reference. Sweet. I love that company!

Secondly, I am in school to finish off the last course for a Mechanical Engineering Technology diploma. The instructor from the previous class recommended an award-winning software program aimed at helping newbies like me learn applied loads and stresses and how to graph or plot them. The last 5 weeks have been a reckless stream of confusion trying to understand the math and concepts. Last weekend I was a mess, crying out to God to help me understand and not squander this opportunity He has given me through my work at this time. I use the experience of Daniel and his three friends as a source of inspiration that education can be God-ordained when it’s for His purposes (see Daniel 1: 3-7). God also provides wisdom to those who ask for it (James 1: 5). Anyway, the software was so good at visually showing the concepts, I decided to bite the bullet and purchase a student license for the software. But the website wouldn’t accept my PayPal account because of certain purchasing restrictions. What to do?

I contacted the professor who created the software directly by e-mail. I explained the situation and asked him where I could send a cheque. It wasn’t overly expensive for a license, but I prefer to legitimately own any software I have. He responded back with a complimentary license! How wonderful is that?!

And yes, finally, my brain is grasping the math concepts. PTL.

A few of you out there in Operaland have been praying for me regarding work (to get a “legitimate” job instead of working through a temp agency; that has been an experience in itself, let me tell you).

I came very close to that goal just last month, but then my car died. The out-of-town job had to be dropped (which was a disappointment to the area supervisor of the plant who called the agency back to see if there was any way I could get back there). I had to accept another job on the whole other end of town because it was on a bus route. It takes about 1.5 hours to get there and 1 hour coming home (a kind co-worker drops me off at a major terminal on her way home).

But today’s post is about a regular kind of hero…

In Canada, the first Monday of August is celebrated as a Civic Holiday. Most people don’t work that day, but there was an opportunity to garner some extra money to pay rent. The buses stop running way out where I work around 6pm on holidays. What to do at 11pm when I go home? Calling the city’s transit office revealed that the nearest stop would be a 5.5km walk (no one from work was going that way and my regular ride wasn’t working the holiday). So after 8 hours of being on my feet, it was another 45 minutes of fast paced walking to make the last bus at 12:08am.

I thought there was a final connection to get to my end of Hamilton. The bus driver informed me I was mistaken, and upon rechecking my schedule, he was correct.

Sigh…

The bus driver asked me where I lived and it seems he lives right in the same neighbourhood!

“Tell you what,” he says, “just stay on the bus. We will head downtown; then I go back to the yard and I’ll take you home in my car.”

“Really? You would do that?” I asked incredulously.

“Sure; I do it a lot. The transit service really sucks because a lot of the last buses have no connections. I see people like you getting left in the lurch all the time.”

He was true to his word and I finally got home around 1:15am – without having to walk any additional kilometres. We exchanged names as he dropped me off and I told him (again) how grateful I was for his generosity.

Thank you God – for Todd. A top-drawer bus driver who excels at customer service.