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On the day this is written, it’s been almost one year since we completed The Labyrinth. It’s hard to believe it already has been that long! But the date is far too easy to remember, because we were finishing it up on that fateful day, Tuesday, September 11, 2001. But that’s not my reason for telling you this little story. No there’s much more to it than that. You see when I got the idea of doing a labyrinth, my funds were very low, and so it had to be somewhat cost effective. I had old brick pavers we had from a patio that we had previously taken up, when we built our porch onto the back of our house.
And mulch - well that’s pretty inexpensive. A truckload as I recall was a whole $20.00 at the time, which did the whole path. It’s now gone to $25.00, which is still reasonable. I know because we added some more mulch recently to the labyrinth. My husband had used his new tractor to clear away a spot in our little wooded area, after cutting down several large trees. But after he was finished he told me if we didn’t get the stumps removed they would grow up in the paths. So I called the nearest local stump removal service and made an appointment for the tree service company to come out and give me an estimate. He came that day, a very large man, kind and friendly. I took him down to where we needed the stumps removed. He asked me some questions having no prior knowledge of what a labyrinth was exactly. He seemed interested and he gave me a price, $150.00. Well that was more than I had anticipated but I asked when he could come and he said that Thursday. What then happened I found interesting. I asked him for a business card, which he gave me, along with another card with a picture of Jesus and some writing on both sides. I had thought about telling him about the chapel, but decided there didn’t appear any reason to, that is until he presented me with that card. I knew that there was more to this gentleman than I had originally realized. He wasn’t just any tree service - instead there was special reason why he was sent. I then told him since he had given me the card that I had something he might like to see, so I sent him down the path to where the chapel was, not telling him what he would find, but that when he came upon something to go on in. I heard him exclaim from where we were still standing and waiting on him to return. When he returned I could tell he was touched. He began to ask me how I came to do the chapel, which I shared with him. He then asked me if I would be using any benches to go around the labyrinth and I told him I would eventually. Then he said he had some old church pews from his old church. He had bought them and had no need of all that he had purchased. Rather surprised I asked how much he wanted for them and he said you can have them. Then what followed just bowled me over. He said I’m not going to charge you for removing the tree stumps, and when I asked why and tried to protest he said anyone who is doing God’s work the way you are, I can’t charge. I felt so humbled. I knew God was fully aware of what my circumstances were and He chose to use this very sweet, kind, man to be a part of doing something extra special in making our labyrinth.
Thank you Bud for letting God use you to do something extra special for a hurting America. |
