You just cant make this stuff up:
While sitting in a Breakfast/Lunch Deli with a childhood friend and discussing the history of the beautiful original craftsmanship of the building built in 1880??? I realized there was something very familiar about the bar area that had been transformed into a Beveridge center/counter complete with every coffee and tea flavoring you could ask for.
Bible verses and inspirational decor adorned the entire restaurant. Smiles and appreciation radiated from the staff along with intimate conversation from one of the other booths.
I was visiting in my childhood hometown of Albion NY, at age 77, but the memory, was as plain as yesterday. I lived in Foster Care, on a farm, with loving foster parents who cared for me as well as other foster children who came through the welfare system.
God saw fit for me to stay in that foster home until I was twelve years old while most others came and went. I was very close to “Pa” and would sometimes go into town with him on Saturday errands.
Sometimes he would stop at a bar for a couple of drinks and he would sit me up on the bar so I could eat peanuts. I remembering interacting with other customers, like I was a “Little Princess”
LIttle did I know that 70+ years later I would sit in that same building converted from a bar to a Christ Centered Diner and Church!
The rest of the story:
My “Pa” never gave up his alcohol, however, he was a loving, protective Dad whom I never feared even in a childhood that could have been considered unstable, in the eyes of many.
To balance the Sovereignty, of God’s plan for my life, “Ma” was a devout Christian, who took, all in her care to a fundamental, Bible teaching, preaching church where I learned about the Love of God who has a plan for my life, and yours, giving us hope for our futures beyond anything that we could have ever planned or choreographed. Even giving me a dad, despite his issues with alcohol, accepted me as an orphan with physical disabilities, as his own, JUST LIKE GOD!!!
PSALM 139
JAN SAWDERS