On Tuesday evening, we helped our sweet and dear friends, Nick and Lindsey, pack up a 27 foot moving truck and their little Sion with everything they own, to head for their new home in California. Even though we packed in the rain, we still had fun and enjoyed the little time we had left together! (Especially Tyler!)
(For those of you who don't know Nick and Lindsey, Nick was on staff with Lamar as our High School Youth Pastor at Riverbend Church, and they are our best friends.)
As sad as we have been to see them go, we know that God has amazing things in store for them! And apparently, Satan knows that God is going to be using them as well, because he has certainly been attacking them since the moment they left.
At 4am Wednesday morning, Nick, Lindsey and Lindsey's Dad, hopped in the U-Haul and the Sion and headed for California. The trip started smoothly and they made it all the way to Tuscon, Arizona. They ended up stopping at a hotel to stay the night, parked the U-Haul in front of the Lobby and headed off to get some rest. At 3am, Lindsey's Dad went outside to get the truck ready to get back on the road, and discovered the unthinkable.....the U-Haul was gone. After grabbing Nick and Lindsey and explaining that this was no joke, they called the police to file a theft report and watched a surveilance camera in the lobby office. They watched as two men pulled up in a car across the street, one jumped out, ran to the truck, and within a matter of seconds, broke in the U-Haul and drove off in it. In just a matter of seconds, everything Nick and Lindsey owned was gone.
After filing the report they stuck around in Tuscon to see if the police would get any leads on the truck. After hearing nothing, they decided to hop in the Sion and head to California. Once they reached the California state line, they got a call from the police that the truck had been found, but they weren't sure what was left inside. So, they turned the car around, drove all the way BACK to Arizona and met with the police to sort everything out. When they looked in the completely destroyed U-Haul, they found only a love seat, one crate of shoes, a quilt Lindsey had made for Nick, a few photo albums and a couple odds and ends. Everything else, their furniture, clothes, kitchen stuff, appliances, bedding, jewelry, books, pictures, their lockbox with passports, credit reports, social security cards, EVERYTHING had been stolen or destroyed.
After realizing there was nothing else that could be done, they reloaded the stuff that was left into a new, much smaller, U-Haul and drove outside of Tuscon to the stay the night. The next morning they drove all the way BACK to California and reached their final destination, Lindsey's parents house, at about 7:00 this evening.
The most amazing thing about this entire story, is their attitudes. Everytime I spoke with Lindsey, they all sounded upbeat and positive. Lindsey said the most amazing thing to me today. She said, "It's good that our identity is not in our stuff! It doesn't make us who we are, and we know that now more than ever." They are completely and totally trusting that God is going to take care of them. And trust they should!!!!
God has told us to love our neighbors as ourselves! Yes, I agree, it is not about "the stuff", but imagine yourself in their shoes, losing everything you own, and knowing that soon, you will have to replace it. Overwhelming huh! But that's where we come in. We can help them.
When it comes time to replace furniture, clothes and kitchen supplies, wouldn't it be nice to be able to pull out a gift card and not have to pay for it all by themselves.
If you would like to help Nick and Lindsey out, you can send a gift card, a thoughtful note, words of encouragement, a check, whatever you feel God wants you to give... to us and we will make sure to get it to them! If you send it to me soon, I will mail it to them. Otherwise, Lamar and I are going to see them in July and I will bring it to them then.
Since anyone in the world can read this blog, I don't want to put my home address on it. So please mail whatever you want them to receive to:
Riverbend Church
Attention: Lamar Stockton
4214 capital of texas hwy n.
Austin, TX 78746
If you have any questions you can email me at
jillstockton@gmail.com
Thank you for your help. May God bless you for your thoughtfulness!
2 comments:
what kind of gift cards would be best? not sure what they have out it cali...
Target, Wal-Mart or just Visa gift cards would be great. I know they also do alot of shopping at IKEA and there are a couple in Cali, I just don't know how close they are to where they will be living. Thanks so much for your generosity!
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