Story of the Week, November 18 2010, Robin Leach’s Miracle

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November 20, 2010

Good news, friends. JoAnn Cayce has once again recovered from a difficult illness and should be able to spend Thanksgiving home with her family. Thank you for your prayers! I’ll be updating their Christmas plans in the next mailing. Here is the story (and please check out the site I have included at the end):

Robin Leach, host of the former Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous is one of many celebrities who have angel stories to share. A few years ago he told his to listeners of WYLL Radio in Chicago. (I was a “regular” on that station so the hosts sent me the interview.)

Christmas was approaching and Robin had invited some friends who, he knew, might be spending the holiday alone. They would have a feast, he promised. Robin would bring the wine, and his best friend would provide the food, including a turkey with all the trimmings.

“On Christmas eve, I phoned the friend who was supposed to provide the food,” Robin says. “I wanted to find out how large the turkey was. But my friend insisted that it was his job to buy the wine, mine to provide the food.” Due to this misunderstanding, each man now had a trunk full of wine. But there was no food of any kind, and worst of all, no turkey.

It was much too late now to find a store open, much less a bird to buy. But the men decided to try anyway. After several disappointments, they found a 7-11 store open in Brookfield, Connecticut. Hopefully, they entered. “Do you sell turkeys?” Robin asked the Hispanic owner.
“Nothing but burritos,” he answered.
Discouraged, the men started toward the door, and then noticed an elderly black woman who seemed somehow to emerge from the back of the store. Was she shopping this late? “I have an extra turkey at home,” she came toward them. “You’re welcome to it. Just follow me.”

Surprised, the men looked at each other. What could they lose? They followed her car to a non-descript shabby neighborhood, not too far away. The woman probably needed the turkey more than they did, Robin thought, looking at the dismal surroundings. He had plenty of cash on him…maybe he could not only pay her generously but add something extra as well.

In a few minutes they pulled up in front of a modest house, and followed the woman inside to the kitchen. Sure enough, she opened her freezer and at the bottom was a turkey. There were also frozen bags of potatoes, Brussel sprouts, cranberry sauce, rolls—everything any host could want. “Take it all,” the woman told them.
They couldn’t! “What about your own Christmas?” Robin asked her.
“You don’t understand,” she smiled. “I know what it’s like to be hungry, One Christmas I went without a turkey too.”

“But…..” They weren’t poor, Robin wanted to explain to her. They were just careless and, perhaps, not as grateful as they should be. But that would change, he promised himself. Quietly he slipped some bills in a kitchen drawer and helped his friend load up the bounty. Everyone would have a feast after all, thanks to a woman whose name he did not even know.

The following day was perfect in every way. The dinner was exceptional, and at the end of dessert, everyone toasted the generous lady, their Good Samaritan. Had her holiday been as happy as theirs? “I know! Let’s go over to her house and thank her personally!” someone suggested. A great idea, they all agreed.

But although Robin and his friend knew the route very well, and led the guests right to the spot, there was no house on the street where they had followed the lady. Where the house had been, there was only a vacant lot, with nothing on it but weeds.

The guests got out of their cars and stared. “You must be mistaken, Robin,” one said.
But he was not. He knew it.
Families on both sides of the lot came out to see the visitors. “There’s never been a house there,” they all agreed. “Not in all the years we’ve been here.”

Robin spent the next hour driving around the neighborhood, just in case he had been wrong about the location. But he never saw the house or the woman again. Today Robin believes the entire episode was a miracle.

He’s probably right, but why? I still wonder. There didn’t seem to be the “usual” reasons for miracles: poverty, health issues, fear, loss….

Do you have any thoughts on this? I’d welcome them.

Finally, take a moment this week, put your feet up and click on the link below. It’s a recent day in Macy’s Philadelphia store, and a surprise prepared by 600 singers for the shoppers. Watch their reactions:

http://www.creativeminorityreport.com/2010/11/awesome-pop-up-hallelujah-chorus-at.html