Past Due

from Grandma Stories: God’s Little Miracles by LDMahan 

Down in the Valley of Texas, there lived a boy who was six years old.  He lived in a two-bedroom trailer home at a commune-style missionary school.  His parents went to classes in the mornings, and his 4-year-old sister went to a day school on the grounds.

The public school near the mission was called R.L.Hogsy, but his parents did not want him to go to a public school.  They wanted him to study the Bible as well as learn how to read and write.  They wanted him to be in an atmosphere that was nurturing, where prayer was a part of daily life.  At last they found Taylor Christian School, and enrolled him for kindergarten.

As preparing missionaries, the boy’s family had a lot of challenges to overcome.  They had moved a long way from all that was familiar.  They had few of the comforts such as air conditioning or a grassy lawn which they were used to.  The boy rarely noticed any difficulties, however; he was always running and climbing on the rocky playground a few feet from his front door.  He didn’t have his bicycle, which he had had to sell when they moved, but there were plenty of other missionary children with whom he could play hide-n-seek, or freeze tag.

At school he learned how to read.  Every day he played in centers, played on the dirt-covered yard out back of his classroom, and practiced with sight words  on flash cards.

“And …and,”  “Ball … ball,” “Have … have,” recited the teacher and students.

The school was not free.  Every month his parents prayed for the $140. for him to continue there.  That was a lot of money for them, but they knew God could provide it if He wanted their son at that school.  Month by difficult month, somehow, the money was there in time.

Then came the last month of school.  It was already well past the first week in May when tuition was due.  No one from Taylor Christian School  had called to tell the parents that the bill was past due, but they knew it was, and they also knew that this time they weren’t able to pay it.  Why was God letting them be late with the payment?  They knew He had taken care of so many of their needs, and yet they felt responsible to cover the bill somehow.   

Finally, the boy’s mom decided to go up to the school and speak with the business officer.  She met a smiling face, and cringed a bit out of guilt. 

“Have a seat, my dear,” said the lady in charge of tuition.

“Thank you.  Well, the reason I came was to talk to you about our past due bill.”

“What past due bill?” the woman inquired.

“We have gotten behind and don’t have the money for May’s tuition yet, but we will get it to you.”

The business officer reached into a file on her desk and passed a piece of paper to the boy’s mom.  “You have no bill due, “ she said.  “Everything has been paid in full.”

As the boy’s mom left the office and walked down the school steps toward her car, she felt that she was living half in a dream.  One more time God had done a miracle and the bill in her hand, the bill she should have paid, was mysteriously marked PAID IN FULL.