Sweet Treats

Know anyone looking for a job?  Maybe looking to change jobs?  Here’s a story.  My friends sold their house in California and moved to Texas.  Needing new work, they wondered about transplanting their fire extinguisher business, but then an uncle mentioned selling ice cream.  So they bought an ice cream truck online and later signed a 6-month lease to open an ice cream shoppe neighboring a thrift store, a church, and an Alcoholics Anonymous office.  The truck and the shoppe worked hand in hand, with children buying from the truck receiving an invitation to eat pizza and study the Bible at the shoppe.  Studies began in the summer at 7 PM, initially attracting 4 kids, then growing to host 8, with most ranging in age from 10 to 13.  And my friends loved it.  They loved the children, and they loved the teaching, all the while focusing on honoring the Lord rather than making money.  And indeed the Lord took care of them, supplying income as they had sought and supplying joy that overflowed in every direction.  One mom said, “Thank you for teaching my daughter the Bible.  I thought she’d learn about God in church, but no, it happened through our ice cream vendor.”  One neighbor from the Alcoholics Anonymous office stopped by the shoppe, being grateful to find someone willing to listen, and in turn my friends took pleasure in offering to accompany this lady to church.  But alongside blessings, there came heartache too.  One of the neighborhood boys stopped coming to study because he was removed from his parents to go live with a foster family.  And as sadness set in for my friends, they were grateful all the more to have shared at least a short time with the boy.  As they look back on this whole endeavor with ice cream, they remember it being born from the desire to experience the Lord.  And experience Him they certainly did, even when obstacles appeared.  My sweet friend who is the wife in this story grew up in Mexico, and at first she didn’t feel confident in her use of English to communicate with the ice cream customers, yet she found such delight in watching the Lord navigate the details.  In Isaiah 41:10, God comforts His people, saying, “So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God.  I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”  And may we each step out in complete confidence of the Lord's ability to provide on our account.