God sees the big picture. He knows what He is doing. He is big enough to love you in large and tiny ways. Always, He has our best interests at heart. He sees the future and weaves our present upon the framework of our past. Know that God is in control and He is generous. “We will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, His power and the wonders He has done.” Psalm 78:4
The tale of the teapot, recounts the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord. It tells of His awe- inspiring power. No detail in your life is overlooked by Him. Even when you think He didn’t see, He didn’t notice, He did see. He did notice… He loves you in amazing ways.
Over a half a century ago we were privileged to go to a camp for university students north of
Toronto. It was located in the beautiful
Lake of
Bays Region on
Fairview
Island. God used the Biblical teaching, lectures and the love of the people to help us become believers in
Jesus. We went there several summers enjoying many rich and memorable experiences. Villages nearby had many little charming antique and gift shops. One day we found a very lovely English cobalt blue teapot overlaid with silver filigree. It was unusually beautiful. We decided to buy it as a special symbol, a special reminder of how God had given us so many wonderful times there.
Newly married, we were settling in to our home in Fort Collins, Colorado. With the financial help of our parents and the insurance company of which Gene was the Personnel Manager, the Lord gave us a large house near
Colorado
State
University. We believed God wanted us to have an open home. Upon moving in, we took the locks off the doors. This resulted in a lot of activity. People were coming and going at all hours. One evening a homeless gentleman slept under our grand piano.
Most of the activity in our open home was from the Colorado State University students including some of the CSU football team, even the famous Thum McGraw ( The McGraw Athletic Center at CSU is named for him.) Students came from other Colorado Universities as well. We had Bible studies, scheduled meetings and dinners. Also, many students came to ‘Hang out’. There would be discussions on many topics, including topics and “life”. These often lasted late into the night. Wrestling and rough housing were often part of ‘hanging out’ and our furniture suffered. During the first year we replaced nine couches! This was no place for spindly French furniture. Finally, Gene’s Dad, who lived in town, was exasperated. He found a heavy sturdy steel framed couch at an auction that took four strong men to lift. During one of these times of a lot of activity and laughter the teapot fell and was shattered beyond repair. We had a pretty good attitude about most of our things that got broken, but this teapot was so special and symbolic to us that we felt sad. A few other things that meant a lot to us were broken or stolen. There is a temptation to stop having an open home and say “We don’t want these people in our home any more.” We said, “God, are you trying to get out attention? What lesson do we need to learn?” We thought He said, “I love you and am your heavenly Father. You need a little ‘correction’ to refocus, to keep on course. You need to be really clear about what your priorities are. First, fix your eyes on Me. Wherever your treasure is, you may be certain that your heart will be there too.” We sing the Scripture, “Seek ye first the
Kingdom of
God and His righteousness and all these things will be added unto you.” Does this mean, Seek ye first the
Kingdom of
God and His righteousness and ALL these things will be STRIPPED from you? What should be our attitude toward things? Corrie TenBoom said, “Hold THINGS loosely.” That can mean position, power, even our children- who are all from God. One saying we knew well is. “Do not love things and use people, but LOVE people and use things.” People are a priority over things. We are stewards of what God gives us and we should be good stewards- it is all God’s stuff anyway. It’s our attitude toward things that God cares about. We DO need a house or apartment or room to have an “open home.” It is nice to serve tea in a teapot, but it can be a very ordinary teapot and, if it breaks, get another one. Things are like equipment for the job. So we decided we would rather have people in our home and have some things get broken than not have people at ALL in order to protect our valuables….So…..LET THINGS GET BROKEN!
We have tried to keep our priorities right, but we have had to refocus many times over the years. One Bible verse that greatly influenced us and impacted our lives is Luke 9:24: Jesus said, Jesus said, “For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it.” God has given us lots of exciting and interesting people to love and serve. In our many trips to
Canada we did try to find another teapot like it, but never were able to.
Fast forward about 30 years. We were in Vancouver, B.C.,
Canada.
We were at what was called a “Conference in the City” where Gene was speaking. A church had rented a small recreation center in the middle of the city. All the families came for the weekend, bringing sleeping bags and we all ate there, etc. As we were leaving at the end of the conference, a little old lady from
Australia we had just met on the weekend came to Gerri with a box all tied up. She said, “This is for
Gene and you. I think you will enjoy it and can use it more than I will.” We had to dash off to catch a small plane because
Gene had to speak at the
University of
Victoria the next day and there wasn’t a ferry that would get us there on time. We debated whether to check the box on the plane, but decided not to.
We arrived at our hotel and those of you who know Gene will not be surprised to hear that he said, “I wonder what’s in the box? Maybe there are some sandwiches or a German chocolate cake.” So I opened the box and there was a VERY LOVELY ENGLISH COBALT BLUE TEAPOT OVERLAID WITH SILVER FILGEREE plus a ‘bonus’, a matching creamer and sugar, which we had never had. It was EXACTLY the same as the one that had been broken. The lady had no knowledge of our broken teapot. We found out later that she had brought these on a boat from Australia when she came to
Canada decades before! We were stunned. We could just say, “WOW.” Thank you God!
This is what we called a Serendipity. “A happy and unexpected discovery or, looking for one thing and finding another.” So we had a Serendipity, a happy and unexpected discovery, we were looking for one thing and found another. We asked God again, “What lesson do we need to learn?” We think He said, “I love you. I am your Heavenly Father. I know ALL about you and want to encourage you.” 1 Timothy 6:17 says, “God generously gives us everything for us to enjoy.” Psalm 149:4 says, “For the Lord takes delight in His people.” The scripture says that God loves a cheerful or hilarious giver. If God wants us to be hilarious givers, then He is definitely one too! He showed His love and care for us and took delight in giving us this gift, which would be meaningful to us, and we would know it came from Him. We read in James 1:11 “Every desirable and beneficial gift comes out of heaven. The gifts are rivers of light cascading down from the Father of Light.” Jesus said, “Even the very hairs of your head are numbered.” We know about His looking after the sparrows that are of small worth and He says, “Not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father.”Does “God is in control” sound familiar? Then he says, “You are far more valuable than many sparrows.” Think about all of the details necessary to get the replacement teapot to us: the lady brought it on the boat from
Australia years ago, we met her only the one time at the conference and she was touched to be generous and give it to us. Ephesians 3:20 says,
“God can do anything you know-far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams.” Then God led us to read Hebrews 6:10: “God doesn’t miss ANYTHING. He knows perfectly well all the love you’ve shown him by helping needy Christians, and that you keep at it.” No detail of life just happens. Nothing escapes His attention. An Old Testament verse says, “Do not despise the day of small things.”
God remembered a broken teapot and showed us that He cares about every tiny thing that happens to us in our life.
May you be encouraged as you read this that God can be trusted with all things in your life, both big things and small things.Our God is BIG. Our God is AWESOME!
Gerri’s Teapot is as told to me in her 2007 Christmas letter.
The author, Gerri Thomas, was on staff with my parents at the Bear Trap Ranch, an Intervarsity camp just outside of
Colorado Springs,
Colorado.
Her husband
Gene taught there as well as in many other locations.
