Our Tailor Who Art in Heaven

Or

God owns the suits on a thousand coat racks

Or

God helps the woman who helps herself to help her man to dress himself

 

We were newlyweds. We were headed into the ministry. We were well suited, even though I didn’t own a suit. I didn’t care, but most churches at that time felt that suitliness was next to Godliness. And my wife wanted me to have one. There’s a verse somewhere that says God cares more about what your wife wants than what the church wants. When you find it, let me know.

We were newlyweds. We were headed into the ministry. And we were broke. Which is a synonym for newlywed. Look it up if you can afford it.

I didn’t care if I had a suit. I was used to buying my clothes at thrift stores. I didn’t want to spend any of the dollars we were deficient in on a suit. But Ellen’s father was a tailor who once owned clothing factories. So she knew nice suits. And she picked one out for me.

It was silver. It was sleek. It had a nice matching red tie. And it was hanging on a mannequin behind a glass window in downtown Red Bank NJ. In the window display of one of those city Men’s Boutique’s that are only there to taunt you. You know nobody can actually afford to buy there; that there’s something illegal going on in the basement that pays their city rent.

It was a Sunday afternoon. Like all other dollar deficient newlyweds, we ate lunch at Ellen’s Mom’s house. In Red Bank. We were between church services with a few hours to kill, so we went for a stroll. To downtown Red Bank. You saw it coming before I did, and it was way back in 1988.

She asked me if I wanted to see “the suit.” I said “sure”, knowing it would only come to me if I smashed the glass from behind which it taunted me.

We approached the mocking mannequin who was better dressed than I. We admired its sleek silver suit. And matching red tie. We looked at the price tag. And we both laughed and walked away. We would have to wait till it wound up in a thrift store.

A few hours later we were back in church. A young man approached us, asked if after church we could come to his apartment for a few minutes. I said “sure” for the second time that day.

When we entered his apartment, he said “during church the Lord told me to give you something. Wait here a minute.” He disappeared into his bedroom.

And he came out a minute later. Holding high…The Suit!

It was silver. It was sleek. I looked for pieces of broken glass on it. Didn’t see any. But our jaws might have been broken, as slack as they had gone.

We told him where we had been that afternoon. How my wife had asked God for that suit for me. He got excited to know he had really heard from Jesus.

Then he said “wait, I’ve got the perfect tie to go with it!” You already know what color it was. You’re getting good at this. Our jaws finished their collapse. I wanted to put the suit and tie on, go stand in front of that Boutique window and mock the mannequin. But I didn’t think it fitting for a man going into the ministry. A man who had just been clothed by God Himself.

A short time later, that two Tailor’s daughter I married decided that one suit wasn’t enough for her ministry man, and she was going to pray about it. And shortly after that, a different church member handed me a bag. She said she knew some well-off New York Time’s editor who handed her this bag. Of Macy’s-bought suits that fit me great. Ellen and our Tailor Who Art in Heaven were dressing me again. I guess I should stay in the ministry.

 

So, has God ever miraculously given you the desire of your heart? Or maybe of your spouse’s heart? Has He ever provided your needs in an unexpected way? I’d love to hear about it. Maybe we can meet in front of some overpriced store, stand in front of it and mock it, because we know our Father can afford it.