Cover Me

I LOVE VALENTINE'S DAY!! Way too much for a single lady.  But man I love it, I was gathering my cards and addressing them the other morning and did a quick check of the paper for one customer.  I had done the same thing around Christmastime, because I'd gotten really lax with checking the paper everyday.  I knew this day was going to come, I knew when his daughter told me a different story than he did when she returned my Tupperware, but you hope and you pray but the inevitable will happen.  With that I began thinking back over my time getting to serve him as his "sales lady Angie," and aside from daughter and mom, it's my favorite title so far.

"So encourage each other and build each other up...." I Thessalonians 5:11

I first met Fred in 2013.  I sold him, okay he knew the owner, I showed him how to operate his 2013 Equinox and did some paperwork.  He'd come in from time to time to get a quick lesson, or when the time changed, or for whatever else he needed.  His trips became more frequent after his wife passed away.  I got to be the jerk that asked January of 2014 if he and his wife had a good holiday.  I felt like an idiot.  But Fred kept stopping by, after the Y, or getting groceries.  We'd chat.  He told me Pastor Hollis once did a conference for John Deere in LAS VEGAS.  A detail my parents left out.  They were all shocked he'd even go to Las Vegas and I almost called Fred a liar.  He'd talk about getting to go to a high school reunion, he brought his friend one time.  He sent his other friends too.   He stopped in for a cup of coffee and I sat down with him each time. Sometimes I got funny looks from sales managers, but those changed after the first few times.  They also never came from the ones that mattered, those guys would smile and walk by.  I always said if I was too busy to sit down with Fred and have a cup of coffee I was too busy.  One thing is for sure, Dean could tell me my buddy was there, and I lit up and dropped what I was doing every time.  

Last Valentine's Day I had a decision to make, it would have been my first Valentine's Day remarried, it was not.  I could be bitter.  That was definitely a choice I could've made.  I'm so thankful I didn't.  I got up that morning and I needed a screwdriver so I finally unwrapped one that was in my desk since Christmas of the previous year.  One car sold, then another, then another.  First hat trick.  It's where my lucky screwdriver and I first began.  He's a gem and likely the one.  After work I had to run by and stick a Valentine under someone's windshield wiper before I went home to third wheel my roommates Valentine's Day dinner and then ultimately settle in to watch some NASCAR.  I felt like such a rebel sneaking around a retirement home parking lot so I could bless someone.  By far the greatest Valentine's Day I'll ever experience.  I got to do what I love, and serve someone other than myself.  Then on Monday I was sitting in my office and got a call from Fred.  I won't ever forget it.  I mean I've forgotten what he said but not his tone.   His voice oozed with joy as he thanked me.  It was by far the coolest thing I had ever done for another human being.  And really, it's nothing compared to what I've received from Fred.

Fred had a unique way of walking in for coffee right when I needed the encouragement.  He and the Holy Spirit were apparently pretty chummy.  I'll never forget this one night, there were many, but this one.  It was after this super victorious Valentine's Day even but there I was wide awake in the middle of the night just sobbing.  I knew God was sovereign, I knew he kept us here for the stellar year we experienced, Bailey was doing GREAT in school, Kiki her teacher was handmade for teaching Bailey, and is one of the godliest and dearest friends I have, so is Caitlin, I wouldn't have known them had I not sold Jon a car and been set up with him, and Megan had yet another person wrapped around her finger, which is good because there's a box addressed to DC just her size if she steps out of line. She even met a former candidate for governor by running up to Jon while he was chatting with him.  Oh Megan.  We love Jon the elephant, he's a wonderful friend to the Hewitts and NOT just because he buys cars without negotiating!  But I would've never been set up with Jon if... I knew in my head and my heart how sovereign God was.  I had seen time and time and time again how he had just been so faithful to my little family.  But there were still those nights that no matter how much I could see manifesting in my life that proved Romans 8:28, I still just couldn't and that night I didn't just cry.  I cried out to God.  Please give me a real reason why I needed to stay in the Quad Cities because I need it, I shouldn't be here and you know it just as much as I do.  Immediately he put not just my job but my favorite customer on my mind.  Who would sit and have coffee with Fred?  The next day guess who walked in my showroom door.  I went and got him a cup of coffee and we sat.  Who knows what he said I don't, I just sat there in awe of the perks of my calling.  I sell cars, but more importantly I serve people and it ministers to me too!  We aren't all crooks.  Actually this is why I do what I do, the people.  For the Freds.  I sell cars, but I sit and have coffee, I hold the hand of a widow that had to buy a car alone for the first time in many years, I get to hold my customers newborn when they stop in for an oil change.  I literally have the coolest job in the entire world.

So here's my heart and the whole point of this post, ESPECIALLY if you're single, you have a choice Sunday.  You can be bitter and you can sulk.  Or maybe you can reach out to grandma, or grandpa, or anyone from a previous generation that never expected to even go through a day without their love.  Or maybe even you know someone that's gone through a rough divorce and needs encouragment.  We all know someone we can send a card to, take to lunch, or send flowers too.  I know in my church, our widows are AMAZING and many of us can thank them for more than we even realize.  I think frequently of Grace, Peggy, and Barb.  Their faithfulness, their strength, their encouragement, their heart for younger generations.  So I encourage you this Valentine's day, single or not, but especially single, reach out.  Get over yourself, you will NOT regret it, and hopefully the only bitterness in your Valentine's Day comes on February 15th when you buy that dark chocolate and bring it to me at Zimmerman Honda. 

I had one less Valentine to send this year, and it would've been addressed to the gentleman that encouraged me without even knowing it.  He is the guy that prompted this shift in perspective on this day that creates such a good opportunity to just be a blessing.  It's that simple.  Just be a blessing.  Every single cup of coffee, card sent, meal delivered will absolutely be worth it someday.  No regrets.