Father's Day

I remember my siblings and I asking my parents why there wasn't a Children's Day, since there was both a Mother's Day and a Father's Day. My parents' sage reply was that every day is Children's Day. It is the nature of parenthood to daily seek the welfare and benefit of one's children. Now that I have raised children of my own, I can appreciate my parents' response those many years ago.

The Scriptures declare that it is more blessed to give than to receive. The nature of God is one of giving. God is love, and the apostle Paul wrote "Love does not seek its own." Love is not selfish. It desires to spend and to be spent on others. I have found this to be the nature of my heavenly Father, and I desire to be conformed to His image and likeness.

This morning I was up and outside early as I had a project that needed to be completed before it got too hot. The fan motor had been squealing and seizing up on my rooftop air conditioning unit. I had ordered a replacement, and anticipated that it would take a couple hours to swap the motors.

Shortly after 9 A.M. I was done, and had the air conditioner buttoned back up. Blessedly, I only had to climb up and down from the roof three times. I then went inside to switch the AC unit on and to enjoy the refreshing coolness. The unit was blowing out prodigious amounts of air, but after a few minutes I noticed that the air was not very cold. I had fixed the fan, but now the compressor was not working.

This was not expected, though I noted that the old fan motor, and the compressor were heavily rusted. The AC unit is only about 6 years old, but the heat and humidity of Georgia have taken a toll on it. Most motorhomes the size of my bus have two rooftop units. Since I have only one, it runs nearly all the time during the hot months of the year.

Upon discovering that the compressor was not working, I got down on my knees and asked Yahweh to guide me, showing me what I needed to do about it. I entreated Him for grace and guidance. As I think of this, I realize how truly blessed I am to be able to go to my heavenly Father at any time and ask for His wisdom, and His grace. He is truly the very best of Fathers. He has said:

Jeremiah 29:11-12
"For I know the plans that I have for you," declares Yahweh, "plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you."

I know that many of God's sons and daughters pray to Him, but how many have an expectation that He will both hear them and answer? I can attest to having a much greater expectation of Yahweh hearing and responding to my prayers than I did in the days of my youth. Having walked with Him for many years in a condition of daily dependence, I have found Him to be a very present help in a time of need.

Although I am not surprised that Yahweh heard me speak to Him this morning, I continue to stand in deep appreciation and unfeigned gratitude when He answers with an evident abundance of grace. I considered my options. I could call an AC repairman to tell me what was wrong with my unit. Perhaps it was the capacitor that starts the compressor, or a bad thermostat, or it could be something else. The fan motor I had just installed had a defect that I discovered when I installed it. It ran, but I suspected it would fail prematurely due to a manufacturing defect. I could return it and get the $100 refunded to me that I had paid for it. I could purchase a new air conditioning unit and install it myself since I had done the installation on the original unit.

I began looking into my options. I spoke to an AC repairman who was very helpful. He helped me rule out a number of simple and inexpensive possibilities. I looked into the cost of new units. The Coleman Mach AC unit that I have been using is about $1,200 at Camping World. Amazon has generic units at half the cost, but it would be a few days before I could get one delivered.

I decided to check on Craigslist. There was an ad for a new Coleman rooftop AC unit available in a town about 90 minutes away. I talked to the man and found him to be very congenial and helpful. He works for a trailer company and has dealings with a supplier that annually sells him their close-out AC units at a very deep discount. He had several different models available. One of them is a 15,000 BTU air conditioner, which would cool better than my 13,500 BTU Coleman. That would make a difference in my bus. The man informed me that the additional electric draw would be negligible between the two units. Better yet, he was asking $600 less than the retail price.

I checked my PayPal account to see what funds I had available. I discovered that this very morning while I was up on the roof working on the AC that a brother in Christ had sent a gift of $200. The provision was there. Before I had asked, God had sent forth His supply.

My daughter is going to let me use her car to go pick up the unit this afternoon. Tomorrow morning, Father's Day, I anticipate installing it. 15,000 BTUs. 15 is 5+5+5, signifying fulness of grace. Tomorrow is Father's Day and I ought to be doing something for my heavenly Father. Instead, He is once again blessing me. After all, every day is Children's Day.

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Mailing Address:
Joseph Herrin
P.O. Box 804
Montezuma, GA 31063