My Texas Miracles-getting to Dallas

This is going to be a shorter entry than I'd planned, since my first post was longer than expected.

I had to go to Dallas. How to pay for it was impossible for me to know. I prayed, I looked at every angle and all of the sudden it was two days before I would have to leave to drive the route I'd planned. I had no money for gas, we didn't have enough food in the house and I had nowhere to stay when I got to Dallas. I had just got up on the morning of January 7th when the phone rang.

On January 6th, I had called to ask the person in charge of our showroom in the Dallas Mart some questions. We had been asked to email her our appointments and there was a problem/challenge with one appointment I wanted to clear up. She was so nice. She was also surprised I was coming (and I later discovered that the Sales Manager in charge of the event didn't know I was coming either). We discussed my concerns and then she said, "I'm so glad you are coming! Now there will be two male Reps here, you and Steve."

"Not Steve Bursey?!" was my startled response. Yes, do you know him? Yes, I did know him. We had been friends in the 90's when we both worked for Applause. He is a tall, charismatic guy with that good ole Texas drawl and we had hung out at meetings and got along real well. After not seeing him for 10 years, I had been tickled silly to see him last summer, at a meeting in Chicago right after he had been hired to work for my company.

"Does he live in Dallas?" I asked. "No, he lives in Fort Worth, but he is coming to work at the show" came the reply. I went on asking questions and found that he might be trying to stay in a hotel, because it was a long drive from Fort Worth to the Mart in Dallas. I had this good feeling, so I sent him an email immediately, listing my number and asking if he was getting a hotel room and if he would consider me rooming with him. I told him I was pretty broke and was driving to try to save money.

Steve called me and we chatted for awhile. It turned out he was as broke as could be too and was not getting a hotel, but was planning to do the 2 or 3 hour commute every day. He said his house was not the Ritz, but I was welcome to stay with him if I wanted to...umhhh....YES! We talked a little more and he mentioned that he'd need to fix a few things, but needed an excuse to do so anyway (I found out when I got there that he had to remove and fix a toilet in what would be my bathroom) and we discussed the details.

When I hung up, I told my wife that a prayer had been answered and I now had a place to stay. Okay, but how to get there? She had called her parents and arranged for me to stay at their home in Hurricane on Friday night, which would put me almost 300 miles closer to Dallas. I had called my nephew, Jim and asked him if I could visit while I was there? We talked a little bit and I told him about my financial struggles. He said if I could get there, he had $20 he'd contribute to my gas money. As I do now, I got the chills then and knew this trip was going to happen.

I spent the rest of that day and the next day too, scratching my head about how to get enough money for gas. I was also busy calling customers and setting up appointments. Another blessing occurred when an important customer said he usually wrote his orders in Atlanta, but this year was also going to Dallas and would write his order with me there! Wow. A customer who had never written an order with me (I once called her 7 or 8 times in a two-week period to try to get an appointment) called me back and made an appointment!

Another time, I'd like to tell more details about the rest of this story, but I'm tired and am just going to give the highlights for now. Here is a list of the events of the next 2 weeks.

January 8th in the evening, I started gathering my stuff for the trip. No gas money.

January 9th in the morning, I started loading my car and was almost done when my downstairs neighbor and friend, Jeff popped out of his apartment. "Hey, could you guys use some food?" he asked. Yes, I said and then turned around and told my wife about the kind offer. Jeff and his wife were heading to Hawaii for a long trip and had decided to get rid of their excess food, so it wouldn't spoil. He blessed us with Milk, crackers, soda, cereal (yes, you're right he gave us a lot of things that wouldn't spoil too) and what would be my breakfast for the next 6 days; a six-pack of protein drinks and other stuff. "Where are you going?" he asked, after delivering all the food and walking me to my car. "Headed for Texas" I said, then added that I didn't know how I was going to buy gas. "I can loan you some money" he said, then proceeded to make arrangements to get me a check for $70 (I asked him for just $60).

By early afternoon of Friday, January 9th I was on my way south. I was welcomed by my Mother and Father-in-Law when I got to Hurricane in the early evening (driving in perfect weather by the way, with only one traffic jam slowing me down in Utah County). They fed me dinner and we had a nice visit before I slept like a log. Saturday, they fed me a hearty breakfast, then added to my stash of food with some fresh vegetables, fruit and granola bars. It was hard to leave, they were so kind and it was so pleasant being with them.

By 10 am Saturday, I was at Jim's house. He was also as kind and generous as he could be, asking if I'd had breakfast and then spending a few hours talking with me. His son played a cello piece for us and I got to talk to his wife and beautiful youngest daughter. In the course of our visit he paused to tell me he actually had a little more than $20 and gave me $25. With the money from he and Jeff, I drove all the way through Las Vegas and made my way to Mesa, Arizona by that night.

I was just in time to be part of the family and friends announcement by my brother in law, Mike; detailing the fact that he had been called to be a mission president and would be leaving again in June, after they had just returned home from 18 months in the Hong Kong area as the Far East Family History consultants. My sis had saved me some food from their dinner (I got there at about 8 pm, after kinda getting lost on the way) and I visited with her family and friends. What a joyous occasion! How blessed was I to be there? At the end of the day, I was put up on a bed in Mike's office and slept like a baby again.

The next day was just dreamy. I walked in the beautiful Arizona sunshine to their chapel and enjoyed hearing Janis and Mike report on their mission. What wonderful talks. I have admired Mike since I was a little guy, and he has been one of my mentors ever since my dad died in 1971. After being joined in church by my oldest sister, who drove up from Tucson for the day; we went back to Janis' home and had a wonderful dinner and visited some more. I emailed my friend in Odessa about when I'd be there to spend the night at his house and then drove to Tucson.

Sunday evening was pleasant too. There are palm trees and wonderfully-landscaped grounds in the apartment complex where Grace lives. She and I have had a wonderful time gettting to know each other the past year. 25 years older than me, she has lived and traveled all over the world, so it is so great to talk to her and hear her fantastic stories. She prepared a wonderful salmon dinner and again, I slept like a baby. Monday morning, she loaned me $20, which was just enough more than I had to get me through the bottom of Arizona and across New Mexico into Texas.

Monday night, I arrived in Odessa and my friend Robert and his wife took me out to dinner. We had steak at the Texas Road House and then went back to his house where we had a terrific visit. I met him when the Internet Manager for my company in Boise, and have liked him and enjoyed talking to him for years. He has been the Internet Manager for Odessa for many years. Even now, I love to hear what is going on at my former company and he always knows the behind the scenes stuff that is so interesting. Again, as soon as I laid down my head, I slept like a baby. He had made up a bed in his exercise room for me and even made sure I had a DVR and my own TV to watch while I was there. It was fun to see a Pay-Per-View movie for free again, a perk my wife and I have missed since I left the cable company and my great benefits there.

Tuesday morning, Robert drove with me to a gas station and paid to top off my car with gas. Another miracle, another blessing. If you're counting, this was the ninth miracle in less than a week.

I have to say here, that I felt almost like the early missionaries of the church, who left without purse or script and had to rely on others to help them get where they were going and to feed them. I know the Lord blessed me and know that my prayers were answered in a very simple, but wonderful ways. I write these things down to let my children and my friends know that I know God hears and answers prayers and cares about us completely. Without his mercy, my life would be a real mess right now. If I had not been able to take this trip, not only would I have been unable to see my Nephew, friends and sisters; I would have probably lost my job. It was that important and the Lord knew it and made it happen.

I got up early on Tuesday the 13th of January and made it to Dallas by 1:30. When I got to the show room, I was immediately put to work helping set it up. My company had recently moved from a smaller show room into one of the biggest show rooms in the Mart and was still getting things set up. My next posting will be about the miracles that happened while in Dallas and Fort Worth for the next 7 days and 6 nights.

If you are reading this, please know that I care about you and hope that you will see past any errors in my words or miss-telling of details. I am sure there are mistakes, but not about what is important. I could not have made this trip without a lot of help and I am so grateful for all those who helped me. It would be wrong to leave out my wonderful wife. She has so often been home alone, while I have been out pursuing sales and trying to provide for our family. She is my better half and I love her with all my heart. Nobody but the Lord knows the many sacrifices, big and small, that she has made to make sure our children and I have had what we needed. I know she was blessed while I was gone too, but also know she sacrificed a lot, including living on very meager fare (like Ramen) while I was gone.