‘God thinks big’
- Sep 10, 2008 - 1
In one day, [Alabama] Baptists help build house for self-sacrificing teen
Dela Waites watched as her life changed before her eyes over the course of 12 hours Aug. 9. From a chair on her lawn, Waites watched more than 75 volunteers complete the structure of her new house in Munford.
She didn’t win the lottery, nor did the Waites family receive a visit from the ABC hit television show “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.” The story of how she; her husband, John Ricky Waites Sr.; and their son, John Ricky Waites Jr., got their new house can be traced to a desire to help someone else.
A few months ago, the younger Waites — who goes by John — wanted nothing more than to go on a World Changers trip with his church, Munford Baptist in Coosa River Baptist Association, to rebuild a house in Mississippi destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.
But his parents couldn’t afford the roughly $300 fee.
The then 14-year-old boy wouldn’t give up on going to help a person in need, so he and his parents worked to raise the money.
“He earned the money to go work on somebody else’s house when he lives in so little,” noted Donna Usher, a member of Munford Baptist who helped organize the building project for the Waites’ home.
As she watched John while on the trip, Usher knew the house he was helping rebuild was “like a mansion compared to his home” — a trailer with about 550 square feet, no air conditioning and holes in the floor that had been struck by lightning.
It was then that God gave her a command to build the teenager and his parents a home of their own.
“I think God found favor in them because they are so willing to go out and help everybody else,” she said.
Usher talked with her pastor, Tim Thomas, and Highland Park Baptist Church, Jackson, Tenn., which was also helping rebuild the house in Mississippi. And a couple of months after that trip, the Waites’ house was being built.
“When I first came back with the overwhelming vision, I thought that if we could get it done that it might be a year,” Usher said. “I don’t think big like God does.”
After getting all of the ducks in a row to build the house, those at Munford Baptist struggled with whether to surprise the family members with the new home after it was completed or tell them beforehand.
It was finally decided that Usher and her husband would be the ones to tell the Waites.
As they told the elder Waites — who goes by Ricky — “quiet tears ran down his face,” Usher said.
Ricky Waites said he was shocked when he found out about the churches’ plans.
“I was basically floored when I found out about it,” he said. “I had to get down and worship Him right then.”
John dropped to his knees, too.
Dela Waites was not home at the time, so her husband and son later took her to the land where the house would be built and told her the news.
“When she was first told, she just started crying,” Usher said.
While the walls, windows and Sheetrock have been installed, the interior of the house has yet to be finished.
Almost all materials for the 1,100-square-foot home with two bedrooms and two baths were donated by church members from Munford Baptist and Highland Park Baptist and local businesses.
Tara Willis of Remodeler’s Outlet in Anniston said the Waites family’s story touched her heart, leading her business to provide $2,800 worth of kitchen cabinets and bathroom vanities.
“It was a good cause to help them when they have helped their community while not having much themselves,” Willis said.
Usher said there is not a more deserving family to build a home for.
“To me, they are the epitome of what friendship, Christianity and love is all about,” she said.
And the Waites’ lives have been forever changed because of that act. And a lesson was taught to John in the process.
“I have always taught him that God gives back,” Ricky Waites said. “My feeling is that he truly believes that now — that God will provide for your needs.”
This article is reprinted from the August 28, 2008, issue of The Alabama Baptist, the newspaper of the Alabama Baptist State Convention.
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1 comments (post your own) feed
1 On Sep 11th, 2008, at 3:19pm, Barrett Duke wrote:
Shadrach, thanks for your comments. Just so you know, I am not advocating that you vote for Governor Palin, only that the Bible cannot be used to say that women cannot serve in elected public office. In response to your concerns about whether or not evangelicals can honestly be for women serving in the home and also support roles for them outside the home, I point to Proverbs 31:10-31. This passage gives women great latitude as they fulfill their responsibilities. The passage even mentions the godly woman making products and selling them, v. 24. It doesn’t say that she sold them from the door of her home. She may very well have run a store. In addition, this woman was very busy. She brought her food from afar, v. 14. She got up while it was still dark, v. 15 and stayed up working into the late night hours, v. 18. Obviously, it is not unbiblical for a woman to work long and hard, doing a great variety of activities, to accomplish everything she needs to do.