The Heaven Sent Fart

It's been very cold here the past week or so. I was doing laundry on Sunday night and discovered the reason. There was no pilot light in my furnace, it was just blowing cold air out. As I got closer to see for sure I smelled gas, this is always cause for a call to the gas company. So I dialed them up and the woman said, "Don't turn on any appliances."
"I just threw in a load of laundry."
"Don't change anything," she tells me as the panic in her voice grew, "Don't turn on the dryer whatever you do. A technician will be there within the hour."

I went upstairs to check on E and he wasn't in his bed. He decided it would be better to be in my bed. He was wide awake waiting for me. He had a late nap that day that lasted 3 hours so he wasn't tired at all. I explained what was going on and told him I wanted him to stay upstairs in bed. Well this might as well have been an invitation to come downstairs.

Being the softy I am I let him on the condition that he lay down on the couch until the guy gets here. The results were mixed but I got a little bit of a sweet cuddle. When the tech knocked E wanted to open the door but I was able to make it there first.

I let the guy in and he turned on a device that measures gas in the air. It immediately began making a ticking noise and my eyes became the size of saucers. "Is there that much gas in the air?" I asked with the same panic the woman on the phone had. He explained that it makes that noise when it is warming up and the sound is different for gas in the air and he went into the laundry room where the furnace is and sat the device on the washer and himself on the floor in front of the furnace.

E and I watched from the doorway as he tried to light the pilot light. He put matches in his mouth, to make them burn slower, and E asked, "Why are you putting sticks in your mouth?" He explained what he was doing and why. "Can I see?" E asked.

"Sure. It's safe," the tech said. E took two steps toward the furnace and ripped the loudest fart I've ever heard come out of the kid. The gas measuring device went nuts. The tech picked it up and started waving it at E's waist as we all laughed.

E asked, "What's it doing?"

"It's smelling your fart," the tech explained. E farted 3 times during the tech's visit. It was hilarious (E's new favorite word - now that he knows what it means). I was told it was time to call someone to repair or better yet replace the furnace.

The next day I looked up heating on Angie's List and called the closest, highest rated company offering coupons. The price to walk into the house was $89 + $26/15 minutes. The minimum cost was going to be $200 to see what the problem was and possibly fix it. I told the woman on the phone that I wanted to get a new one and asked her to give me a ballpark figure, a range. $3000-$10,000 was the reply. I started thinking credit card debt, home equity loans, cold winter nights.

Tuesday I called a friend of mine that has 2 little kids, he would definitely enjoy the fart story, everyone with kids does. (Those without kids or who don't know E thought it was mildly amusing). He told me his brother does HVAC and can get me a much better price. The response from the brother was almost immediate. The work couldn't be done until today (Thursday - the day of the first snow) but it was going to cost me less than half the other guys lowest price for a new furnace.

I believe God said, "fart now kid!" I never would have called my friend about the furnace, I didn't know his brother did that kind of work, without the fart. God really does provide for those who believe he does.

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My life has changed so much for the better since I started acting on the knowledge that God will provide. I am not as afraid to spend money on things that make me happy (rubber stamps) because the fruits of my labor go to help other people. The cards I made for WINGS are helping them now. The profits I make from the cards I sell at the Craft Boutique in Madison in November will be going to WINGS too.

I have finished the cards for my first commission sale. The buyer has given me permission to post the cards here in the hopes that it will prompt others to thank their veterans this Veteran's Day (November 11). I will be posting them tomorrow as it is getting late and I need to go to bed. It's so warm here now it's making me sleepy. : )