God uses symphony plans to soften hearts?

Bizarre but true! Our public hearing concerning the building variances for our project was December 5th at 1:00. We had been told that this was a "rubber stamp" process -- if our neighborhood and NPU approved our variances, then the city of Atlanta would just approve their approvals. Not so.

Trent was behind several cases Friday afternoon, most represented by homeowners plus attorneys. After a couple of hours of watching the zoning board diliberate on each case, he saw one case similar to ours turned down flat. By 4:00pm our case had still not been heard, and the situation looked grim. No attorney. No particular reason that the city should approve us above others. All that was left to do was pray!

Meanwhile, Trent asked one of the ladies in charge what she thought about the time line......would he be out of there by dinner? He explained that we had plans to go to the symphony (we had been invited by some friends to a wonderful "Gospel" evening at the ASO). For some reason, this thrilled the powers that be. We don't know if the zoning board members are big supporters of the symphony, or what, but the Lord works in mysterious ways. Once Trent's case was finally called up, he was introduced as "The young man who has plans for the symphony," obviously finding favor in the eyes of the moderator. After Trent explained why we deserved a variance (without an attorney -- only a divine "counselor"), the board agreed!

As some of you have been aware of our struggle to obtain permits, this has truly been an answer to prayer! We still have to obtain the permit from the permit office next Friday, so keep praying. Although the process is suppose to be smooth from here on out, we've learned not to take anything for granted.

Thanks for your prayer! And thanks, Richard and Suzanne, for inviting us to the symphony. It was fantastic!