The winter of 2003-04 was frigid in Spokane, Washington. Temperatures dropped below ten degrees Fahrenheit for a week at a time, which is especially cold for that area of the country. Marta and Stephen’s home was very old, and at the time still had its original windows. Most of them were broken, at least one in each bedroom. Upstairs, downstairs, and on the main floor the windows were not just cracked but broken, with a chunk of glass missing. Because it was such old glass, when the windows cracked, a corner would fall out, and in many cases the whole pane fell out because the old caulk had chipped away, leaving nothing to hold the pane in place.
Stephen and Marta could not afford to replace the windows, nor did they possess fix-it skills or even an inkling of how to do that type of handyman work. Marta covered most of the broken windows with cardboard and tape, but air continued to flow through. Although it wasn’t a permanent solution, they believed that Stephen would soon make enough money to allow them to replace the windows. In hindsight they probably could have replaced the windows with the money they spent on increased heating bills!
They had applied for and had been approved for a low-income housing rehabilitation program available to Spokane residents. Kiemle & Hagood, the organization contracted by the city of Spokane to run the housing rehab program, issues a list of homes in the rehabilitation program needing contractors. After several contractors had to come to their home to bid the job, they chose a contractor—so they thought.
The windows in Stephen’s and Marta’s bedroom, a large old-style window and a second standard window, were the best windows in the house. In the summer of 2004 while they were on vacation, their neighbour had caught another neigbour’s kid climbing through their bedroom window. Using a power tool and screws, he screwed all of the windows shut. When the family returned, they left the screws in the windows with the exception of two: the boys’ room in case of fire and the large window in the parent’s bedroom so they could install the window air conditioner.
One day in the early part of winter, their cat Sonic found herself locked in the parent’s bedroom. Desperate to get out, she pushed on the windowpane of the large window where the air conditioner had been during the summer. Pressing the glass with her paws, the entire pane fell out and broke, leaving a gaping hole.
Although replacing a few of the windows or at least putting cardboard over the large window in the parent’s bedroom would have seemed reasonable, they didn’t do anything to correct the situation because they knew the windows would be replaced through the housing rehabilitation program, slated to start in February or March. The broken and missing windows weren’t very attractive, yet it didn’t seem like a big deal. It simply never bothered the family.
Because Stephen worked nights as a nurse at Holy Family Hospital, the parent’s bedroom became the preferred sleeping spot for the rest of the family. The kids—Marquita, Dakota, and Parker—wanted to be with Mom while Dad was working. Amazingly, although they slept in Stephen and Marta’s bedroom throughout the winter with cold air flowing through the paneless window, they never felt too cold. Even when the temperature dropped into the low teens or below, they slept comfortably while everything was frozen solid outside. It seems strange, but the colder the weather got the more they liked the window open and the better they slept.
Marquita slept upstairs some of the time, but her bedroom windows were nonexistent. Her bedroom was in the converted attic, a long narrow room the full length of the house. It had a small window at either end, one with no pane and the other missing a quarter of the pane. Both had a makeshift cover of cardboard. Normal airflow through that room makes it freezing in the winter and hot as Arizona in the summer.
Pastor Randy Klein, Senior Pastor of Living Water Church, was also a contractor in Spokane. He had worked on houses in the rehabilitation program in the past, but because he had been building a new home he had not accepted a housing rehab job in over a year.
One day when Pastor Randy stopped in at the Kiemle &Hagood office downtown, he saw the flyer listing the houses needing contractors in the rehabilitation program. God whispered to him, “Pick that up!” So he did. Thumbing through the listing, he felt prompted by the Holy Spirit to call Marta and Stephen. After calling them, immediately he came right over. Marta and Stephen knew the moment that they met Pastor Randy that he was supposed to be their contractor. And he knew it too.
In March 2004 Pastor Randy arrived to replace the windows—and what a beautiful job he did! In less than three days he replaced all windows, including two huge egress windows in the basement and one in the attic. Suddenly the house was sealed tight! Noise normally heard from outside could no longer be heard. With the windows shut, Marta couldn’t even hear the kids playing outside.
A remarkable series of events occurred over the next three days. The day Pastor Randy installed the windows, Marta’s mom, Marquita McIntire, called her from California. “Marta,” she said, “although I don’t understand the reason, I know I’m supposed to put some money into your bank account. I don’t know why, but I feel you need some money. I happen to have some money right now, and I’m going to put it in your bank account.” She had received money from an old debt owed her.
“Okay, Mom. I’m good with that!” Marta said. “I don’t know what it’s for either, but… cool!” So Marta’s mom deposited ten thousand dollars into Marta’s account. Little did either of them know that God had divine plans for that money.
The next day Pastor Randy said, “Marta, we can get you a really cheap air conditioner right now because it’s off season, and there’s not a lot of work right now. You can think about it.”
Marta thought, “Well, that’s kind of a weird thing to spend Mom’s money on.”
Marta called her mother, “Mom, how does this sound?” she asked. “I can get an air conditioner for less than half price right now, but it sounds like a weird thing to spend your money on.”
“That doesn’t sound weird at all,” her Mom answered. “I think if you need an air conditioner, and you can get it for half price, then that must have been one of the reasons you needed the money. Go ahead and do it!” At that moment Marta thought, Great! An air conditioner!
She called Pastor Randy. “We’re going to go ahead and get the air conditioner!” On the third day representatives from Hurliman Heating installed the system. When one of the service people got to the final step of connecting it to the household furnace, he opened it up and realized that the furnace was severely damaged. The heat exchanger was cracked, he said, and the amount of carbon monoxide leaking from it was absolutely deadly. When he removed the heater core he had to tag it. Because of the dangerous condition of the furnace, it wasn’t even legal for him to walk away from it as it was. If he left it that way, he could be responsible for the family’s possible death.
After removing the heater core, he talked to Pastor Randy and the two of them sat down with Marta to explain the situation. “The amount of carbon monoxide that’s been leaking into your home is deadly,” he said. “The only reason you and your family are still alive is because your broken windows vented the carbon monoxide to the outdoors. But now that your windows are sealed shut, the first time that heater kicks on, you could all die.” Then he added, “There’s absolutely no doubt in my mind about this. It’s not a situation where a little carbon monoxide might make you sick; this amount would have killed you all.”
When Marta realized the representative from Hurliman felt bad about having to take the heater core, she said, “Don’t feel bad! You can have it. Take it!”
They now had an air conditioner but no furnace; but they still had their lives, and that’s what mattered. That night the temperature dropped, and if the furnace had been connected it would have kicked on. Marta called Mom and shared the situation with her. “Mom, this is outrageous what happened here,” Marta said. “Because God allowed the whole broken window thing, we’re alive!”
God had given Marta’s mother unexpected money, prompted her to give it to Marta, then within three days of the windows being sealed, she decided to take advantage of purchasing an air conditioner. In the process of installing the system, she learned about the life-threatening condition of the existing furnace, which saved their lives. With Marta’s mom’s approval, they spent the rest of her money on a new furnace.
When God prompted Marta’s mother to give Marta the $10,000, she didn’t know the details or the reasons, but she obeyed God anyway. The air conditioner cost $1900, the furnace $2000, the family had been about $4000 behind on the mortgage and other bills, and $2000 was needed for extra work in the house. God had provided for all of their needs.
The next winter of 2004-05, although Marta realized it wasn’t rationally possible, she said, “It’s colder in the bedroom this winter with windows closed and a new furnace than it was last winter with the windows open. Everyone agreed. In spite of their eyesore broken windows, God had kept them warm, then in His time made provision for new windows, a new air conditioner, and a furnace—and saved their lives in the process.