Meet Gabriel (the angel)

Monday, May 8, 2917

This morning was cold – 39 degrees – but beautiful. We rested well in our little room in the basement of the Lake House. We seem to be over the stress of FRED’s sale last week with all the packing, etc. and are now sleeping better.

Dawn, the Director of Program Ministries at Hinton, graciously provided our devotion today. Dawn is responsible for the summer mission programs at Hinton. In just a few weeks mission season will start and they will have approximately 750 people on campus throughout the summer doing summer mission work in the community around Hinton. There are many people in the area with low income so there are a lot of handicap ramps, floor and porch repairs etc to homes throughout the area.

The scripture for today’s devotion was John 6:1-13 – the parable of the loaves and fishes. This will be the theme scripture for summer camp 2017 as well so Dawn has spent a lot of time with this scripture over the past few months. As you probably recall Andrew told Jesus “all we have is two fish and five loaves of bread” and that won’t do anything to feed the 5,000 people here. But he gave the loaves and fish to Jesus anyway. It was all they had to offer. Dawn reminded us that when we give all we have even though it seems like not near enough, God begins to make amazing things happen. As NOMADS we have seen it so many times when we are faced with what seemed like insurmountable tasks on projects. Dawn also reminded us of the left overs that were picked up. We don’t know the extra impact of our actions. They are so much more than the mere completion of an appointed task. They keep on keeping on – the ripple effect as God multiplies our gifts. We just have to give Him what we have.

After the devotion we all went back to work on tasks left over from last week – painting, drywall finishing, electrical work, trim work, and replacing ceiling tiles that were taken down to access the plumbing and electrical. One of the tasks completed today was the installation of a walkway light to the Carter hermitage. That is one of four hermitage cottages here. They are like the tiny houses so popular now and are available for rent. So if you want to try living in a tiny house before you buy one, this is a good place to do that. It was another full day of working on the remodel. We are getting close but there are only 3 days left. The cabinet man did not install the cabinets over the weekend and even though we would love to see the kitchen with the cabinets and counter tops installed, we sort of hope he doesn’t come while we are trying to finish up.

You have probably seen in some of the pictures a little white dog in a red vest. That is Gabriel (“like the angel”). He is a diabetic alert dog that belongs to Steve. Steve’s blood sugar drops dangerously low at times without warning. Until it reaches a really low point Steve has no symptoms. Gabriel can alert Steve based on his scent, to his sugar getting low before it becomes too dangerous. Today Steve and Sandy told us how they trained Gabriel. They taught Gabriel with gauze pads soaked in Steve’s saliva from when he was low using food as a reward. So now when Steve is low Gabriel alerts him and gets a treat and Steve gets to eat too to bring his blood sugar up. Gabriel is very well behaved and goes everywhere with Steve. He is Steve’s angel.

On another note – exciting for us – Tiffin started to build our new motor home today. We had hoped to be in Red Bay for the build so we could follow it through the factory documenting the build with pictures.  However, we were already committed to this project and time is too short to be able to take delivery before the Constructors for Christ project in June to postpone the build until we get home. But we are excited anyway.

Only three work days to go.