Purchase:

We were shopping for new barstools when my wife found it, a white leather sectional.  Listen, there are very few things that my wife and I really need (I can hear my dad’s voice in my head, “son, you don’t really need anything.”  “We need a home,” my rebuttal.  “Why, plenty of people call the streets there home,” his comeback.  “Okay, but we need food,” surely I had him on this one.  “Why,” he would ask.  “If we don’t have food, we will die.”  “Why do you need to live…”)  and of those few things we need, a new leather sectional is not even on the radar.

We are now the proud owners of a beautiful new sectional and we still do not have barstools.

Dilemmas:

Delivery was set for Wednesday (delivery is something you pay for when you live in the city, own only one car and you purchase a huge new sectional).  Not only did we not need a new sofa, couch, sectional thing, we had nowhere to put it and it was on its way.  When the truck arrived I had just one option, the garage.  I moved out the car and moved in the sectional.  Now what to do with the car?  But I would have to solve that after I paid for delivery (which had to be in cash and the driver carried no change).  Thank you to the Cafe on the corner for playing bank with me.

Out with the old:

The only way I was going to get the new sectional in the condo was to first get the old sofa out.  And that we did causing only minor damage to ourselves and our condo.

Another delivery:

A man walked by just as we set the old sofa on the sidewalk.  “Need any help,” he offered.  “No, we’ll be fine,” I lied.  He took 5 more steps and I begged him back.  “Actually, I would love some help.”  So the man, his name is Ryan I learned, and I carried the first piece through the intersection and down the street and plopped it down in front of a storefront office.  We returned and did the same with the second piece.  I paid this delivery man too, and like the first, he took cash and carried no change.

I waited for 45 minutes on the sidewalk, in front of an empty storefront for a friend and now landlord to show up and unlock the door.  That night, I moved the old sofa into my new office.

Need:

Turns out, I did need that new sectional.  Not because I needed a new piece of furniture,  I have plenty of that, too much actually.  That sectional got my attention.  Or maybe it was God getting my attention, why not, a burning bush in the Old Testament and a smoking hot new leather sectional today.

That sectional made me (sure, blame it on the couch), step out in faith and rent a new office for the church and foundation (something I’ve been talking about for a year, and only made happen that day).  And it’s about more than an office.  It’s decision making and confidence and trust in God that he has my family and me where we are for a reason, for ministry, for the church, for the city.  And that office, silly as it might sound, helps me understand all that and to press on.

Help:

That couch made me admit at times I do need help.  “Thanks again Ryan.”   I will rarely, perhaps never admit it ask for it, even though everyone else already knows it, but sometimes I do need help.  Sure, I needed help carrying the old sofa, so what.  I saw inside myself walking down the street with a man I had never met who offered to help me carry my “burden.”  It’s like I got it that night.  I got Jesus.  I get it.

No Return Policy:

I have never been more excited about a sectional…thank God, because the place we purchased it from does not allow returns.  I have never been more excited about Jesus, the church or the city…and I have lots more to say about that.

So next time you come over, or see me in the office, come on in, sit on one of my couches, and I would love to talk more.  This is only the beginning.  No returns.