It is no secret that here in California a lot of us are “sheltering-in-place.” It all has to do with the virus that is infecting most of the world. Even at school now, we are doing distance learning where the students are being taught via the internet. But there is a day or two before the shelter-in-place order comes out and so if there is anything left to buy in the stores after all the panic buying, you can actually get one or two things you need. At least that’s the way it should be.

Unfortunately, the way it works is much different. You go to the grocery store and there is almost nothing left. Monday night, I was at one of the empty grocery stores in town. Not much there at all. No bread, no milk, no eggs, almost no produce. Even the freezer sections had been almost bought totally out. I had enough to last a couple of weeks and was not really worried. But there is just a little voice of sorts saying you need a couple more things. I had a loaf of bread and one more loaf in the freezer. I usually keep a couple in the freezer just for emergencies. This was definitely an emergency but finding anything let alone bread might be impossible.

Monday night it rained. I woke up Monday morning to a strange sound. A small stream of water came down from the ceiling and landed on the very edge of my bed. I got up to investigate. A half-dollar size wet spot was on the bedspread. I kept expecting another drip but none ever came. I did do the prudent thing though. Later in the day, I called my landlord. He is a great guy and looked at it the same day. On Tuesday, my landlord called to tell me what he found about the roof. While we talked, he mentioned a little grocery store a block or two away from my apartment. I had never been in there before. It’s sign says Supermercado. I went over there. Found potatoes, salads, and bananas. Found burrito shells. Found a box of instant rice.

I had gotten more than I thought I would ever find. I started searching for the bread aisle. Finally I did find it. Top shelf and all the way down, there was no bread. But then, I noticed a loaf on the very bottom shelf towards the back. Another shopper with a cart was coming up the aisle now. I decided I would let the other shopper have the loaf of bread if she wanted it. But she walked right on by. I picked up the last loaf of bread on the shelves. I had a loaf of bread!

I said a quick thank you to God. He had done more than I even thought or imagined. He loved and cared about me so much He gave me a way to buy bread. It doesn’t sound like a big deal until you can’t buy it any more. My roof only in all the rain leaked only once. God used a leaky roof to provide for me. If my roof hadn’t leaked, I wouldn’t have talked to my landlord and he would not have told me about the other grocery store and I would not have bought a loaf of bread. It is amazing what God does because He loves us so!