God's Tool Chest

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God's Tool Chest

By Steve Hasenfaus

After renting a small apartment in the city for 3 years, my wife, 4 children and I decided move to the country. After several months of looking for a place to build, I found a small house with potential. We found a lender that would finance us after several more months. At last the house was ours.

Day after day, I would drive down after my day job and work on the house, often until after midnight and return in the wee hours of the morning. This grueling schedule went on for six months, wearing away finances and nerves.

One night while working by myself to remove a ceiling fan in the family room, I was standing on the top rung of a ladder, balancing the fan on my shoulders and using a "flat-head" screwdriver to take the fan down. It was the last thing I had to do that night. As drywall crumbled into my eyes and I teetered on edge, I saw that the last two bolts holding the fan up required a socket tool instead of a screwdriver. This was the last straw in a six months' string of mishaps and irritations. I threw the screwdriver across the room, swore like a sailor and childishly prepared to yank the fan out of the ceiling.

As I reached for one of the fan blades, I heard something that sounded like a marble rolling on the floor then a 'clink' noise. I felt inside the top of the fan and pulled out a socket! I thought, "What are the odds of this thing fitting those bolts?" It fit perfectly. But without the wrench/driver the socket is worthless. I laughed at the irony and injustice and threw it across the room to land by the screwdriver.

Seconds away from destroying the fan and ceiling, I looked at the two tools and got an idea to try fitting the screwdriver in the back of the socket. It fit -perfectly. Two minutes later the fan was safely on the floor and I stared at my 'tool'. This may seem like a minor coincidence but if either the socket or the screwdriver had been even 1/8 inch bigger - or smaller, it would not have worked.

How did the socket get up there? Why did it pick fall right then? I did not see it fall...I heard it. I took this to be a loan from God's personal tool chest. I carried it around in my pocket for over a year telling people this story. When they asked what I planned on doing with it, I would simply say "When He wants the socket back, He'll place it where He needs it...."

I "lost" it about 3 months ago...and I know it will help whoever finds it.

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Go to http://www.act-of-kindness.com to learn more about Steve Hasenfus and Scott Strength, cohorts in being a blessing