Coincidental Providence.

Our kitchen upstairs is the hottest room in the house in the summer and the coldest in the winter. On August afternoon some of the items in the Fridge seems a bit more tepid than expected. The cheese chewy and the water warmer. (Dang it!)

Perhaps the door was left ajar and the sweltering heat oozed into the fridge? It happens, right? Possible...not probable.
More time went by and more despair set in.
"Lets start looking for a new fridge tomorrow." Well, not new, we don't buy anything new, but a good used one.

My parents had been in for the day to see us and that evening before they left, my dad slyly handed me 70 dollars. He has made a habit of slipping us a little cash now and then when we see him. Things are tight for us and he just tries to help out. We appreciate it. But this was a strange amount, no? 70$? it was usually, 10, 20, 40, something more common and...well...smaller. So I thanked him and we set out for a walk around the block, as the sun set and outdoors became bearable.
As we returned our next door neighbor, Marlene, came out and handed me 5 dollars. She said it was her portion of a baby shower gift that the neighborhood had purchased for us and she had never paid her 5$. I said don't worry about it, but she insisted.

So my parents pile in the car and leave for Indy. I walk back inside with 75$ in my pocket to a fridge that thinks its a pantry. I had planned on visiting some of my usual used merchandise locations like "A-1 Marks" downtown the next morning. But that night before I went to bed at about 10, I just got online to check Craigslist. I found a fridge for sale, here in Fort Wayne, that had just been posted an hour before.

The guy was asking 75$. Sold.

We emailed briefly and the next day me and my buddies Forrest and Joshua picked it up and took it upstairs. It has a few dings in it and some chipped paint, but it keeps my ice cream cold!

We had exactly what we needed. Nothing more and nothing less. We love that fridge...well I love it and my wife tolerates it. But we both sense it's blessing.

But it reminds us to be grateful. It reminds us to be hopeful. It reminds us of the often thin line between what we need and what we want. It reminds we will be taken care of.