A Random Act of God's Kindness

This is a mostly silly post, so stop right now if you are not interested. 

 

This morning I was posting a message on our reader board at the parish hall.  I had stacked up my letters, minus a few that were used in the message still on the sign and needing to come down.  I walked out towards the road where the sign rests and started to remove the tape holding up the remains of "turkey bingo".  The wind that ravaged us a week and a half ago also got the sign.  The letters are slid into their slots and then taped on to prevent just that occurrence, but somebody nicked a whole roll of packing tape from the crate of letters, so the "turkey bingo" was barely holding on with masking tape.  In fact, much of it had not held on.  In fact, one of the letters I had planned to re-use had not held on.

 

Last week our maintenance man had retrieved some of the lost letters, many cracked or broken, but not all of the letters.  I walked along the road way looking for letters, but found a "1" which was not used recently.  It would not be a good substitute for the "M" I needed.  I crossed the street in the direction the wind would have carried the letters and found, woven into the tumbleweed stuck in the neighbor's fence, an "I" and a "P".  I found a "0" and "4". 

 

And then I found the "M". 

 

The "M" had found its way over the fence, no small feat getting through horse fence and two layers of barbed wire.  Certainly a feat I was not about to attempt!  I looked for other letters and covertly was on the look out for a very long stick that might reach through and flick it back towards the fence.  No such stick was to be found.  I looked at it and wondered who lived there and assumed that it would be frowned upon to trespass.  There was no gate or opening save for the front of the house, 30 yards down and around the corner.  I couldn't be discreet, at least, and I didn't have a gang of friends and a tree house next door from which to plot all sorts of ways into the backyard of the neighbor to retrieve the lost "M" (a reference to the Sandlot, if you didn't get it).

 

I crossed the road, praying there was some way to get that "M", and began hanging the new message.  Thomas called just then, so I told him my predicament.  He was dismissing my assumption not to trespass when I looked up and saw someone in the backyard.  I told Thomas I would call him right back.  I ran across the street and called out, "Excuse me, sir..."  It was the Comcast guy I had just seen drive by, and he was happy to oblige me. 

 

As I strolled back toward my "M"-less message, I thanked God for a random act of kindness.  Truly, God hears our prayers...

Too bad I didn't ask for something bigger than an "M" "/