“Mr. Smith” Comes To My House

Yesterday morning I was blessed by a visit from one of my fellow church members. We’ll call him “Mr. Smith.” Those of you who go to my church will know who I’m talking about. He and another church member got involved in the local missions ministry of our church last year. They became the “hands on” guys when it came to blessing people who needed repairs made to their homes.

During the holiday season I asked for his help in doing some odd jobs around my house. The most important one at the time was cleaning the leaves out of my gutters. I’m not physically able to do the job myself and the last guy I got to help me, my son, James, is now in Iraq.

Over the course of the last month two other jobs came up as well. The gutter on the back right hand side of my house came down in the rainy and windy weather. Half of it was hanging down to the ground. The other job was a souvenir left by Gavin, our puppy. During his adventures in our back yard the pup actually pulled off a section of the plywood from the outside of our back storage building. This created a good 3ft by 2 ft hole in the side of it.

When I talked to “Mr. Smith” he told me that he would be happy to come over and do what needed to be done if I could wait until after the holidays. I thanked him and agreed to get in touch with after the first of the year. I had planned on talking to him today at church. However, true to his word, he arrived at my house Saturday morning about 11AM.

He even brought his own ladder. I supplied the garbage bags for the leaves and a hammer to help put the gutter back in place. After less than an hour he had finished the both jobs involving the gutters. The misplaced spouts were back in place and the leaves had been removed.

I showed him the hole in the storage building and he told me the best way he thought it could be repaired. Ironically he told us that when he was a teenager he had helped his father, who was a contractor; build one of the two storage buildings in back of our house. He couldn’t remember which one.

I thanked him and offered to pay him for doing the jobs. Graciously he refused but my wife and I agreed that we’ll find some way to express our appreciation in the near future. Perhaps a donation to the local missions ministry and taking his family out to lunch will be what we do.

I’ve been praying for quite a while someone who I could ask to come and do some of the small repair jobs that I can’t do. What I didn’t realize was that he was right in front of me all the time. I just had to reach out and ask. I’m thankful to God for what he’s done in “Mr. Smith’s” life which has given him a spirit and heart of service. I’m also thankful to Mr. Smith for coming to my house and putting my gutters back in place.