"Miss, could you give me a job?"

8:30 p.m. Today's project was to sit down at the Starbucks at Vons grocery store with my Lime Refresher, which I got a deal on, and make booking phone calls to my Mary Kay customers. I'm about $800 short of the amount I'll need to move Steve into Raincross. So I'm very focused on seeing what the Lord will do, whether by my business efforts, or by any other means He sees fit to provide by this Saturday! All other paperwork and doctor's forms are signed and in order, and moving details are getting straightened out.  God has been very faithful over the last 32 years, so I've no reason to doubt Him now!

This morning, since it was Labor Day and the daycare was closed and special trans buses were not picking up, I took advantage of a day with Steve to take him to visit my dad. They won't be seeing one another for a while. Steve and I had fun with the wheelchair Villa de Anza loaned us that was missing the footrests. So Steve pedaled his way down the long halls Fred Flintstone style, prompting me to ask him, "Hey, isn't there a speed limit here?!"

When we got home, I began working on one aspect of being at home alone after Saturday, and that is my need to hire a walker for Jada, our Lab, seen above with her poor "baby." (The video  is hilarious). I began my recruitment efforts by emailing two of our pastors, who handle practical help for the body at Calvary Chapel, and also have connections with young people who might want a simple job. Jada's very friendly and fun, but when she gets to walk/pull/running, her arthritic "mom," would not be able to hold onto the leash. Even Steve's morning caregivers have to exert some pretty good pressure to keep her in check. And they're grown men!

After a visit to my friend Debi in a local hospital, I settled in at my table at Vons and made dozens of calls, enjoying myself as I always do once I get on a roll. A young man came over with a cart of what looked like clothes and sat down, and I continued my calls after glancing over at him. He then said to me from his nearby table, "Excuse me, Miss." I looked up.

"Excuse me, Miss," he repeated.
"Yes, hi!" I said, picking up my phone to tell him the time, which is what I figured he wanted.
"Miss, could you give me a job?" What did I hear him say? I must have looked and sounded businesslike, because I was conducting business, so that made some sense. Of course he'd have no way of knowing that my business world is exclusively pink. But God excludes nobody! Because, as He said in Isaiah 55:8-9,

"For My thoughts are not your
  thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,"
  says the LORD.
"For as the heavens are higher
  than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your
  ways,
And my thoughts than your
  thoughts."

Knowing that the Lord often tests us by the people He puts in our paths, I had a thought, and said, "Actually, I am looking for someone to walk my big dog now that I'm moving my husband to a care center. Tell me about yourself--are you from around here? What do you do? " He said,

"I haven't had a job for 5 years."
"I understand, because my son and a son-in-law have been looking for work for a long time, too. Times are hard. What kinds of work did you used to do?"
"Construction, retail sales, many things."
"Let me have your name and number. I'll tell you honestly that I emailed my pastors earlier to ask if they had a high schooler or a young adult who might be able to do the job, but if they don't, why don't you go up to Harvest Christian Fellowship and ask for some work over there? The pastors will usually find something you can work on. "

He gave me his name and a "reliable message number." I respectfully put the info into my phone contact list, and may call him, if I don't find someone whose family I know from church. If the Lord leads, and a meeting can be arranged with a third party present in a public place, I may have found a dog walker.

And maybe he will find Christ!