By John Paladini ~
There is nothing especially spiritual about a Home Depot gift card. But on a recent trip to my favorite store, I learned a great spiritual lesson. I watched dozens of 
tradesmen, contractors and craftsmen enter the store empty handed, and emerge a little while later with their carts stacked full of tools and supplies. It dawned on me that you can only do works of service when you’re fully equipped, and God wants to supply all our needs. Those artisans, not only had the materials they needed, but I could see that they had a plan in mind. Many of them were already “building” their projects as they headed for their truck. That’s a gift from God. I just love it when a plan comes together!
“And He Himself gave some …gifts… for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.” Ephesians 4:11-12
John has contributed previous articles to Paladini Potpie. If you enjoyed this post you might want to check out “Scaffolding” and “Defying Gravity on the Erie Canal” He also has his own blog where he writes articles to encourage and build up marriages. You can read his posts and sign up to receive them on MarriageFeast.org
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Welcome! My name is Andrena Paladini and this is a blog about family and love and faith and fun. I call it Paladini Potpie because a potpie is like an adventure in a crust. You never know what might come up, but it’s always going to be good!
Think of the best potpie you’ve ever eaten…hot flaky crust holding a rich savory sauce and all kinds of pieces of meat and vegetables…and who knows what?
As a family, we’ve chosen to live within the parameters of God’s love and protection. This is the crust of our Paladini Potpie. The crust never changes. Within this crust, the savory sauce of family love binds it all together. That is also fairly constant. But beyond the crust and the sauce we can add just about anything!
Good ideas come our way and we’ve adopted and adapted them to add to what John calls our treasure box of memories. These stories and ideas from John’s treasure box of memories are the ingredients I’m putting into our Paladini Potpie.
(Okay, so this ridiculous mixing of metaphors about treasure boxes and potpies is exactly what I’m talking about. Silly and ungrammatically correct. But both illustrations work… so we’ll mix them together and it’ll be just fine!)
John and I have been married for 30 years. Our children have wonderfully doubled in number since David married Amanda, Monica married Dan, and Matthew married Sarah.
And the newest little treats that have been added to our potpie are six adorable grandchildren - Ethan, Angelina, Nathan, Audrey, Maleia and Caleb!
I hope you’ll subscribe to my Paladini Potpie blog, and keep up with all the fun new ingredients I add. Hopefully you’ll enjoy our stories and ideas, and find something you’ll want to put into your own potpie! Bon appétit!
tradesmen, contractors and craftsmen enter the store empty handed, and emerge a little while later with their carts stacked full of tools and supplies. It dawned on me that you can only do works of service when you’re fully equipped, and God wants to supply all our needs. Those artisans, not only had the materials they needed, but I could see that they had a plan in mind. Many of them were already “building” their projects as they headed for their truck. That’s a gift from God. I just love it when a plan comes together!
Paladini Potpie 