Lately I've had some minor drama that didn't seem very minor while experiencing it.
Okay, I need a riding lawn mower to cut the weeds and grass at the HM Ranch. The weeds have been growing very high lately, and I had to watch them get over waist-high during deadline, with no time to address the growing problem (pun intended). I even asked a friend to help me shop online for the best deal, cuz I was too busy even to take time to do that. Anyway, I found the lawn mower I wanted at Home Depot. What was cool was that it was even one of the highest rated models in the Consumer Reports booklet from last year. I wanted to get a trailer, though, so I could transport the thing from the store to the HM Ranch (and bring it home if ever needed, too). I find that Home Depot has some small 4' x 6' trailers at a reasonable price (this after giving up on the idea of finding a trailer). I also decide it would be best to buy a lawnmower cover, since I don't have a shed or storage area large enough to house the lawnmower and protect it from the elements.
So anyway, I have about 2.5 hours on Sunday to buy these items with a Home Depot credit card (I didn't mention that using credit/debt seemed like a reasonable solution to this situation, as the cash wasn't handy), and Home Depot has a special rebate deal where you get a sizable Home Depot Gift Card for spending so much money on Garden Tools. I'm getting ready to check out and pay for the trailer and lawn mower when an employee tells me that he can't sell it to me. They didn't have the paperwork from the Department of Transportation to register the trailer (license plate and all). What a bummer! I tried convincing them or asking them for alternate plans, but "SLAM!" the door was just shutting in my face. I realized that sometimes roadblocks come in our lives for a reason.
I told the Lord I was frustrated, but trusted Him that there might be a reason for this. Maybe going into debt was wrong because a disaster was around the corner. Maybe that lawnmower was the "wrong one." Maybe this or maybe that. I don't know. All I know is that I was very frustrated that I was simply trying to buy something on display at a store and then prevented from doing so. But I "gave it" (the situation and all its frustrating details) to the Lord. Soon after praying the prayer my cell phone goes off, and it's a voicemail from another Home Depot in the Austin area. They've got the trailers and necessary paperwork. They've also got a "free lawnmower cover" offer that's good for this model. 'Wow. Perhaps that was the reason for the road block. Maybe it was set in my path so an even better deal would come along...' I try to see if I can pick it up that day, before we head out to the country to visit some friends (or after the get together), but those plans don't work out.
The next day I get to this Home Depot in Austin and wait in line at the service desk. I see a sign that offers a 10% discount to any military personnel, active, reserve, retired AND their families. 'I qualify for that,' I think in amazement, as my dad is a retired Air Force veteran. It says that proof is required and my mind starts to wonder if there's any paperwork my dad might have on him that he could fax over. So I call him on my cell. The guy at the service desk overhears me and says, 'I trust you. Anyone that's trying to fax over a document...' and he hands me the 10% coupon. I'm stoked. The free lawnmower cover turns out to be expired, and I see that deal sinking down, but the service people ask management and they just zero the price for me and endeavor to take care of the rebate later on their terms, since the coupons were on display and sales people were offering it.
So, that was a rad turn-around of events -- saving over 20% on these items due to a mail-in rebate and the military discount...plus the free cover.
Then I transport the lawnmower to the HM Ranch and get ready to mow. I try to start it (after flipping through the Owner's Manual and reading the quick start instructions on the machine. Nothing. No "click-click" or any sound when I engage the key. I get on the phone with someone in lawnmowers at teh store, explain the scenerio, and he says it sounds like the battery is dead. I'm an hour from their store and getting frustrated again. The lawn really needs mowing, but it's just not going to happen that night. I take out the battery and bring it to the Home Depot in Hutto (which I'm not becoming a fan of, since they were the source of my Sunday frustration). They take me over to the replacement batteries, which I ask to test before I leave (to avoid another no start situation). They don't have a decent tester in the store, but I ask the lawnmower expert (who I'd spent 45 minutes talking to about mowers a week or two before) if I can tell him my procedure, to make sure I'm not leaving out a step in the starting process. Turns out that my interpretation of "engaging the parking brake" and the proper way to "apply the brakes fully" were different and I was just doing it wrong. It was kind of embarrassing, but it was good to know that it would probably start the next day.
So today (Tuesday) comes around, along with our cool new intern, Rand, and after dealing with a computer problem that takes a frustrating hour to solve, I head out around noon to try and start the mower. It responds with a road, like that "Red Barchetta" car in the Rush song, and I'm off mowing the lawn. Early into the first cut around the perimeter, I run over something. It sounds bad, and it takes me a while to disengage the spinning blades. I had run over some loose electric fence wire by the barbed wire fence. I drive the tractor back to the driveway to take a look. I've wrapped that metal wired around the blades really good. I take the key out and endeavor to unplug the spark plug, so as not to risk getting my hands cut off by the blades as I'm working on it. As I reach for the plug connection, I hit something hot (really hot) and it burns the snot out of my pinky, ring, and middle finger of my right hand. Ouch! instant blisters...
The only tool I have to unwind it (bad move) is a multi-tool, which is like a knife, screwdriver, and needle-nose pliers. It's not good enough. After wrestling with it for a while, I tell the Lord, "This is frustrating. Please help me. And I'm sorry for asking for so much help lately." I decide to go into town (Taylor) and buy some tools (wire cutters and maybe a good wrench/pliers). On the way I call my wife to tell her what's going on, and in the hopes that while telling someone about the problem, perhaps level heads will prevail. As we're talking, I pass a farmer who waves from his driveway. After going about a block, I turn around, realizing that this farmer may have a tool he can lend me. Sure enough, he's friendly and reaches right into his toolbox to hand me a wire cutter and a tongue and groove set of pliers I spy and ask for. They do the trick, and I test to make sure everything's working, and then I return the tools.
While talking to this guy (and handing him a copy of a sampler CD and the 20th anniversary issue of HM) he hands me his business card and offers his help if I ever need farming, fencing, etc. We start to talk about my need for leasing part of our land to a farmer to grow a crop (like hay) to keep the "Agricultural Exemption" on the land, which means radically reduced taxes on the land. Turns out he's got some brilliant ideas that blow away the previous plans we had with another farmer. This guy will pay us to lease the land and plant a "coastal grass" on the land, which gets cut and bailed into hay 3-4 times a year, a grass which grows year round and will stay on the land (with proper fertilization) and not have to be re-planted each year. It won't grow as garishly high as the other types of hay, so the whole encounter is a good one, which wouldn't have happened if I hadn't had the accident with the wire wrapping around the blades. Cool, huh?
But it's not over. After I get back and start mowing again, I notice a pickup truck stop by my house, back up and then stop in the road. A guy gets out and starts doing something. 'I bet he's killing a snake or something,' I guess. I drive over there on the mower and, sure enough, he's bashing the head of a large snake and cutting its head off with a knife. I ask him what kind it was and he ventures that it's a Water Moccasin. I guess that perhaps I scared him out of my weeds/grass when I was cutting earlier. Who knows? But maybe my initial mowing got that snake to moving, and my little mishap and frustrating delay prevented me from being bitten by that poisonous snake. Maybe that was another silver lining to the minor drama.
I don't know, but it's been kind of fun to give little things like that during the day over to God. Just being able to talk to Him about my problems has been helpful. Giving up and resting on His wisdom and trusting Him to help things work out has brought peace. And the outcome of each of these mishaps has had a significant and cool outcome in the positive direction. I'm not claiming a miracle here, but I'm not discounting it, either.
Whoo-hoo!
Posted by Doug Van Pelt at May 31, 2006 12:03 AM