Duffle Bags for Jesus
As I said in my last Blog entry, I am haunted by Miss Ruth and her Day Shelter.
And I pray I will always be haunted because that’s what spurs me into action. When I look into the eyes of Jesus in these people who are suffering, I know that I am to be His hands and feet to serve them.
One of the most treasured blessings that one can give the Day Shelter are duffle bags on rollers. Many of the women and children in the Day Shelter are fleeing from battered homes or for whatever reason, find themselves at the Day Shelter with little more than the clothes on their backs. There are closets at the Day Shelter where they may select items of clothing, shoes, and other incidentals that we all take for granted.
I contacted my parish after our meeting and begged for the Day Shelter to be added to our Angel Tree Mission for Christmas. We’ll add things like bras and underwear, toothbrushes and toothpaste, shampoo, deodorant and the like. Plus rolling duffle bags.
Because my family usually selects five Angels from the tree, I had decided that I would investigate the rolling duffle bag and see what I could find. A major discount department store in town had them for $40 each. Yikes! At that price, I thought I’d have to put some of my Angels back.
So I decided to shop around a bit and on Saturday, happened to return something to a department store named Kohl’s. Often, one can find really good clearance deals at Kohl’s if you’re willing to take the time to look. So I decided to take a gander at their luggage section and see if I could find something at a reasonable price.
In my digging, I discovered a bottom shelf loaded with duffle bags on wheels. Only these weren’t just duffle bags -- they were three-piece sets with a smaller duffle bag inside, along with a child-sized backpack. The original price was $49.99 and it was marked down to $24.95. I was happy with half price!
But knowing Kohl’s as I do, their clearance tags are often deceiving. Many times, they’ll be marked down even further and I have found myself delightfully surprised upon checkout to find an even greater discount. I was hoping to find the same in this case so I went looking for someone who could tell me.
Sure enough – they were marked down to $16.60! Plus, I had an additional 20% coupon that I’d gotten in the mail to bring the price down to $14.07, after taxes! I was thrilled and quickly pulled off five of them from the rack. There were a dozen left.
I quickly called a girlfriend who I thought my like to buy a couple for her Angel Tree gifts and offered to buy them for her. She agreed, so I piled two more on my cart. And now there were ten remaining.
As I stood there, wondering about those other ten, I distinctly heard the Holy Spirit say, “Buy them all.”
What? No way! I didn’t have the money for those! And the only way to buy them would be with my credit card and I hate credit cards because credit cards mean debt and debt means danger to a family with only one income.
So as I sat there and rationalized buying (maybe) two more, I kept hearing that voice, “Buy them all.”
I quickly called my husband and asked, “Do you think you and your management team will be donating funds for the homeless again next year? Should I buy these?” He said he didn’t know because he hadn’t talked to his team yet.
“Buy them all” I kept hearing. So I made a decision and said silently, “God, I hear you! I’m going to step out on faith and buy them all and trust that you will find a way to help me pay for them!”
A young Kohl’s associate loaded my purchases onto a cart and helped me wheel them out of the store and load them into my car. “Please say a prayer for me,” I asked her, “because I have no idea how I’m going to pray for these!”
The next day I took two to church to give to the lady who had offered to buy two. I was standing in the Conference Room waiting for an Adult Education class to begin when she flew into the room with her check. “You keep the bags, though, and take them to the Day Shelter,” she said.
“Well at least let me show you what you bought!” I exclaimed.
So I stood there and gave her my sales pitch about what a great bargain I’d found and how thrilled the Day Shelter would be to get these and before I knew it, I had a crowd gather around wanting to know what all the excitement was all about.
“Well, I stepped out on faith and bought seventeen of these rolling duffle bags for the Day Shelter and I have no idea how I’m going to pay off my credit card! If you’d like to help me, I’ll gladly let you!”
And before I knew it, I had people handing me money. They were less than $15, I told them, but some handed me $20’s and told me to “keep the change”. And during the Adult Ed class, others surreptitiously passed checks forward like hidden notes during school. I just stuffed them in my bag and had no idea how much help I was getting.
When I got home that afternoon, I dragged the money out of my purse and counted. Not only had I been given enough money to pay for ALL of the rolling duffle bags I had bought the day before, but I had enough leftover to buy three more (if I could find them)!
The next day, I went to a different Kohl’s store in an adjacent town to see if they had any. They did – 14 of them, all sitting there, appropriately tagged and discounted. In the next department were two Kohl’s employees who were moving some shelves and I grabbed one duffle bag and walked over and asked if either one was a manager? Yes, there was. “Do you have time for a story?” I asked. And I told her about the Day Shelter and their desperate need for these rolling duffle bags.
“Is this the best price you can do?” I wanted to know.
So she thought a minute and said, “I’ll give you an additional 10% off!” I was thrilled beyond measure! After taxes, each of my new bags was $12.43! What a deal!
And before the day was over, I had called a few friends and all of them are paid for!
Am I surprised? No. I’m THRILLED! God is good! And I’m SO glad that I listened and obeyed. The women at the Day Shelter are getting something they truly need and it’s being provided by good people who just want to help.
And I’ve learned a very good lesson on obedience and having faith in God’s Perfect Providence!
And I pray I will always be haunted because that’s what spurs me into action. When I look into the eyes of Jesus in these people who are suffering, I know that I am to be His hands and feet to serve them.
One of the most treasured blessings that one can give the Day Shelter are duffle bags on rollers. Many of the women and children in the Day Shelter are fleeing from battered homes or for whatever reason, find themselves at the Day Shelter with little more than the clothes on their backs. There are closets at the Day Shelter where they may select items of clothing, shoes, and other incidentals that we all take for granted.
I contacted my parish after our meeting and begged for the Day Shelter to be added to our Angel Tree Mission for Christmas. We’ll add things like bras and underwear, toothbrushes and toothpaste, shampoo, deodorant and the like. Plus rolling duffle bags.
Because my family usually selects five Angels from the tree, I had decided that I would investigate the rolling duffle bag and see what I could find. A major discount department store in town had them for $40 each. Yikes! At that price, I thought I’d have to put some of my Angels back.
So I decided to shop around a bit and on Saturday, happened to return something to a department store named Kohl’s. Often, one can find really good clearance deals at Kohl’s if you’re willing to take the time to look. So I decided to take a gander at their luggage section and see if I could find something at a reasonable price.
In my digging, I discovered a bottom shelf loaded with duffle bags on wheels. Only these weren’t just duffle bags -- they were three-piece sets with a smaller duffle bag inside, along with a child-sized backpack. The original price was $49.99 and it was marked down to $24.95. I was happy with half price!
But knowing Kohl’s as I do, their clearance tags are often deceiving. Many times, they’ll be marked down even further and I have found myself delightfully surprised upon checkout to find an even greater discount. I was hoping to find the same in this case so I went looking for someone who could tell me.
Sure enough – they were marked down to $16.60! Plus, I had an additional 20% coupon that I’d gotten in the mail to bring the price down to $14.07, after taxes! I was thrilled and quickly pulled off five of them from the rack. There were a dozen left.
I quickly called a girlfriend who I thought my like to buy a couple for her Angel Tree gifts and offered to buy them for her. She agreed, so I piled two more on my cart. And now there were ten remaining.
As I stood there, wondering about those other ten, I distinctly heard the Holy Spirit say, “Buy them all.”
What? No way! I didn’t have the money for those! And the only way to buy them would be with my credit card and I hate credit cards because credit cards mean debt and debt means danger to a family with only one income.
So as I sat there and rationalized buying (maybe) two more, I kept hearing that voice, “Buy them all.”
I quickly called my husband and asked, “Do you think you and your management team will be donating funds for the homeless again next year? Should I buy these?” He said he didn’t know because he hadn’t talked to his team yet.
“Buy them all” I kept hearing. So I made a decision and said silently, “God, I hear you! I’m going to step out on faith and buy them all and trust that you will find a way to help me pay for them!”
A young Kohl’s associate loaded my purchases onto a cart and helped me wheel them out of the store and load them into my car. “Please say a prayer for me,” I asked her, “because I have no idea how I’m going to pray for these!”
The next day I took two to church to give to the lady who had offered to buy two. I was standing in the Conference Room waiting for an Adult Education class to begin when she flew into the room with her check. “You keep the bags, though, and take them to the Day Shelter,” she said.
“Well at least let me show you what you bought!” I exclaimed.
So I stood there and gave her my sales pitch about what a great bargain I’d found and how thrilled the Day Shelter would be to get these and before I knew it, I had a crowd gather around wanting to know what all the excitement was all about.
“Well, I stepped out on faith and bought seventeen of these rolling duffle bags for the Day Shelter and I have no idea how I’m going to pay off my credit card! If you’d like to help me, I’ll gladly let you!”
And before I knew it, I had people handing me money. They were less than $15, I told them, but some handed me $20’s and told me to “keep the change”. And during the Adult Ed class, others surreptitiously passed checks forward like hidden notes during school. I just stuffed them in my bag and had no idea how much help I was getting.
When I got home that afternoon, I dragged the money out of my purse and counted. Not only had I been given enough money to pay for ALL of the rolling duffle bags I had bought the day before, but I had enough leftover to buy three more (if I could find them)!
The next day, I went to a different Kohl’s store in an adjacent town to see if they had any. They did – 14 of them, all sitting there, appropriately tagged and discounted. In the next department were two Kohl’s employees who were moving some shelves and I grabbed one duffle bag and walked over and asked if either one was a manager? Yes, there was. “Do you have time for a story?” I asked. And I told her about the Day Shelter and their desperate need for these rolling duffle bags.
“Is this the best price you can do?” I wanted to know.
So she thought a minute and said, “I’ll give you an additional 10% off!” I was thrilled beyond measure! After taxes, each of my new bags was $12.43! What a deal!
And before the day was over, I had called a few friends and all of them are paid for!
Am I surprised? No. I’m THRILLED! God is good! And I’m SO glad that I listened and obeyed. The women at the Day Shelter are getting something they truly need and it’s being provided by good people who just want to help.
And I’ve learned a very good lesson on obedience and having faith in God’s Perfect Providence!
posted by Dixie @ 5:38 AM
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