GOD AND ELECTRICITY

I called last week to the electric company to get my NA group's contract renewed.  
They went up on their electricity by two cents a kilowatt hour. It doesn't sound like much but it's $60 a month.

I called another provider to see if I could get a better rate. They offered me two tenths of a cent less, which is not enough that I would switch providers. Then the girl on the phone asked me who it was again the service was for.

I said Another Chance Group of Narcotics Anonymous.

She said “You guys do good work down there don't you? Let me talk to my supervisor and see if we can do better.”

She puts me on hold. I’m thinking if she can save me a penny per kilowatt I might switch.

She comes back on the line.

“Mr. Renfro, I can get you 4.7 cents per kilowatt!”

That is 2.2 cents less, in fact, its less than we have been paying.

Then my trust issues start to kick in.

“What about hidden fees? I ask “What about delivery charges?”

“No Mr. Renfro, no hidden fees, same delivery charges as the other provider”

Well, down at Another Chance we have a saying that goes like this:

“Either you trust God or you don’t” and God seems to be sending me a good electric rate, the same way he sends boats and helicopters and half off coupons for TV dinners. All you have to do is climb aboard or cut them out of the paper.

I said “Yes ma’am, sign me up” and I can start to feel the lump in my throat.

She asks for the address, and the name of the group again and she gets to the part about what city.

“We are in…H-H-H” and it starts to hit me.

The overwhelming sense of gratitude and humility.

I start over.

“We are in Hu-Hu-Hurst” and then I just break down crying.

“What’s the matter Mr. Renfro? Are you OK?” she asks.

“You don’t know h-h-how much this m-m-means to me” and its true. How can I tell her? How can I tell her what we do there?

How can I tell her that once upon a time I couldn’t even have a bank account, and now I am the Master of Coin, the Treasurer for the group, and how not only do I pay MY BILLS ON TIME, I pay the groups bills on time too. And that once upon a time I owed every electric company in the world, and now here I am, setting up electricity for my group?

Miracle! All of it!

I do the same thing when I renew my KERA Membership. But that’s a whole ‘nother story.