God's Fingerprints Are In The Details

My friend Claudia always says, “God is so good at his job.”

I have to agree. He meets my every need. He is in the details. Sometimes he takes care of me in rather unusual ways. Like with a pool table.

Yes, I said pool table. You know, billiards? A rack of balls you try to shoot into side pockets of the table with a stick and another ball? Sounds a bit silly when you try to describe it, but there was nothing silly about my own pool table experience. I shared the story recently with a friend. She asked if I’d ever written in down.

It’s worth sharing…and preserving. So I offer it to you today for reasons I’ll share later.

Many years ago I bought Tom a beautiful pool table for Christmas. He enjoyed playing pool at the student center when we were in college so I thought this would be a nice way for him to relax. We had room for it in our unfinished basement. I gave him the rack, balls, and pool cues for Christmas with a note inside explaining the table would be delivered in January.

It was a plan. But the plan changed slightly when Tom decided to finish the basement first. He worked hard for the next month or so to get the gift intended to bring him some relaxation. The pool table was delivered in February. The whole family enjoyed it as well as the beautiful new living space he created for it.

Tom and I decided to move in 2014. We readied the house we’d occupied for nearly twenty years and started thinking about storing our furnishings until we knew where we’d live next. We accepted an offer from a young couple named Brandon and Heidi. I should tell you that although they had their realtor and we had ours, we actually knew this sweet couple. We had known Brandon and his whole family since he was probably five years old. Tom and I thought it was kind of special to sell the house to a young couple we knew and loved. 

Then the unthinkable happened. Before we closed on the house, Tom died from injuries he sustained while riding his bicycle. Brandon and Heidi graciously let me out of the contract and I continued to live there.

Tom's Pool Table

In 2017, I made the decision to sell the house. I wanted something smaller with everything on one level. I found a ranch style home that needed some updating but was in an area I liked. As soon as my grandchildren heard I was moving they started asking if I was going to take the pool table with me. The reason had nothing to do with Tom. It wasn’t sentimental. It’s simply this: They Can Beat Me at Pool. 

I knew the pool table would fit in the then unfinished basement because when I first looked at the new place there was a pool table there. The cost of having professionals take down the monstrosity I had given Tom, store it and eventually set up again was crazy. 

I told the kiddos I’d think about it.

The morning I closed on my new home I did the customary buyer “walk through” before meeting the sellers at the real estate office. They were packed up and heading out. The house was nearly empty. Nearly.

“Uh, did you forget something?” I asked. They looked at each other and shrugged. “The pool table?” I asked.

“You didn’t know the pool table came with the house?” the woman asked. She then turned to her real estate agent. “She didn’t know the pool table came with the house.”

“Not to worry,” I assured her. “I’m probably the only person around who is actually happy about it. It means I won’t have to move the one in my current house.”

With the deal closed and the keys in hand, I headed home…uh…back to my original house. I took a picture of Tom’s beautiful pool table. I posted it on Facebook asking if anyone might be interested in buying a pool table. The responses were varied. 

“I love that carpet,” one person wrote.

“Are you getting rid of the light fixture above it?” asked another.

“If I had room, I’d buy it,” said another.

Then my friend, Brandon’s mother, wrote “Matthew wants a pool table for the man-cave in his new house.” Remember Brandon? He and his wife were the ones purchasing the house in 2014. Matthew was Brandon’s brother.

I messaged her with times I would be available.  

“I’ll text him,” she wrote. “He’s off on Friday so maybe he could come then. Why are you selling your pool table?”  

I explained I was moving. “Did you sell your house?” she wrote back.

“No. I haven’t listed it yet.”

A few minutes later, my friend wrote back, “When Matthew and Ashley come to look at the pool table, can they look at your house, too?”

And they bought it. The pool table. The house. They bought it all. 

Pretty incredible, huh? Coincidental? I don’t think so. You see, as I said before, God is good at his job. He promised to take care of me. His fingerprints are all over this sequence of events. 

The "New" PingPong &Pool Table

For instance, I’ve been told that since there was a contract, the new buyers for my house could have forced me to abide by it even though Tom was gone. Brandon and I have talked about this. Brandon feels God put him in that place at that time to protect me. God knew what would happen. When someone told Brandon he could/should force the sale, he said, “I could no more do that to Becky Waters than I could my own mother.” Shortly after that, Brandon and Heidi found a great house.

Then, when it came time to sell that house, I didn’t have to list it, go through showings, or deal with stress of any kind. I simply had to post my pool table on Facebook. God took care of the rest.

When we let him in…and when we look closely at those unusual happenings in our lives, we can watch as God takes care of the details.

All of them. 

Yes, I have a pool table in my new house. It may not be as beautiful as the other one, but it came with the benefit of having a ping-pong table overlay so we can play ping-pong or pool. 

It doesn’t matter. The grandkids beat me at both.