Chapter 6 A window to the future

It was July 2000 and a group was at WATW building. The group was mainly members from Mt. Harmony #2. They were working on the inside framing in windows and doors, stuff like that. I had come home from vacation a few days early to be there. It was nearing the end of the day and I was walking down the hill beside the house. All the sudden it was like someone pushed me down. I fall and slide my foot to one side and I heard a pop. I knew immediately I had broken my leg. This time it was the other leg. This was yet another attempt to stop me from moving forward. I spent the next six weeks in a cast and I could not do anything at the house.

Not much was getting done we were to the place where we needed insulation, windows, siding, sheet rock, and then carpet. I found out about a place in Kentucky called "Appalachian Project". A girl came to volunteer at WATW office who had worked for them. She came into my life right on time and I did not hear much from her after that. I called and found out that we qualified to receive supplies from them. Tommy and I rented a U-Haul trailer and went up to see what we could get. We ended up making two trips there. We got several windows, toilets,sinks, fixtures, and enough insulation to insulate the entire house. Later the men from Teen Challenge Chattanooga came and insulated the most of the house.

One day we had a building committee meeting at the house. We needed around $6000.00 for the siding. Scott and a friend had agreed to put on the siding and we were going to pay him. We didn't have the money to buy the siding. A member of the building committee and her husband had just sold their house. She said she and her husband felt like the Lord wanted them to give the profits from their house to WATW for the siding. She said we would have a check the next week from Athens Federal and we did. It was enough to buy the siding and to pay to have it put on. The strange thing about this is this lady and her husband were not rich. In fact they had two small children and I'm sure they needed the money. God does move in mysterious ways. Not to long after that they divorced. I do not understand this to this day. Sometimes we just don't understand.

Time went on and winter 2001 was beginning. Scott had an automobile accident hauling some drywall to WATW. He already had back issues from a previous work accident. He probably did more than he should have on the project. This accident put him totally out of commission. Scott had been coordinating the project. I had no idea where to go from here. Once again, I felt like a wall had been raised up against getting the house completed.

Tommy suggested I call R.B. Dake. R.B. had retired from Webb Plumbing and Electric. We needed someone to coordinate the project and get the electric & plumbing finished so we could do dry wall. R.B. agreed to help. This was sometime in February 2001. Things started to move again. Electric done, plumbing done (work donated by Bobby Case), doors and windows installed. It was time to hang sheet rock.

Our first banquet was planned for February 2001. Tim Selvage volunteered to cook spaghetti. We had almost 500 people attend the banquet and raised approximately $7000.00. This was enough to hang the sheet rock. God provided once again. Soon after that the sheet rock was hung and it was springtime.

During that time there were days and even weeks when no progress was made. I remember those days as the best days I ever spent with the Lord. I would go up to the house early in the mornings and walk back and forth on the porch. The awesome porch that goes the length of the house. Roy Grimes had volunteered to construct the railing. As I walked on the porch I would pray and sing praises to the Lord. I spent several mornings pleading with the Lord to finish what He had started. I was studying Exodus Precept Ministries during this time. One of my favorite parts of Exodus is when the God is about to deliver the Hebrew people from the bondage of the Egyptians. I imagined the ladies who were going to be in that house to be like the Hebrew people. God was about to deliver them from their bondage. God promised the Hebrew people that as they left Egypt the Egyptians would give them things as they left. In fact they gave them everything they needed to build the tabernacle. As I prayed that day I asked God to compel people to give to WATW everything we needed to build this house just like he compelled the Egyptians to give the Hebrews. I looked in the window on the front porch and I could see walls, couches, carpet, and everything we needed. God showed me it was coming and I was encouraged to keep going. What sweet times I spent on that porch just me and my Lord. I cried out to Him and He answered me. I wonder if one reason things moved so slow during that time was because God was enjoying our time together as much as I did. I look back now and I would love to spend one more morning on that porch praying and seeking God just me and Him. Looking through that window to the future.