Aubrey's Bathrobe

Aubrey helps her father, Ben Shepard, repair plumbing while her younger sister Bethany passes tools and describes the family members in her own confusing way. Ben tells Aubrey that Seth Young, a boy she knew at camp, has moved to Odyssey. Seth had been a constant joker at camp, but he had become serious when he accepted Christ. Excited to welcome him, Aubrey decides to visit.

Seth seems uncomfortable when Aubrey arrives with a trout as an absurd housewarming present. He is about to begin a personal Bible study and invites her to join him. When his eccentric mother appears, however, Seth instantly becomes the silly boy he used to be, introduces Aubrey as a crazy camp friend, and laughs at the fish. Mrs. Young loves the unusual gift and urges Seth to let Aubrey show him around town.

Away from the house, Seth explains that his changing personality is part of an outreach method he calls universal evangelism. Because his parents do not attend church, he acts like the cheerful joker he thinks his mother needs. He believes that becoming like the people around him will allow him to speak their language and eventually tell them about God.

To demonstrate, Seth approaches Mrs. Westra, a neighbor fiercely protective of her flowers. After noticing her interests, he speaks knowledgeably about soil, peat moss, and several plants. Mrs. Westra is delighted and invites him to visit her garden after church. Seth expects to begin with the beauty of creation and guide their future conversation toward the Creator. Aubrey is impressed by how easily he connects with a stranger.

Seth also has a large plan for his own life. He intends to develop his approach and use it around the world by the age of twenty-five. He warns Aubrey that every Christian needs a future focus and cites supposed research claiming that someone without one will soon have a distorted view of life. Aubrey has never made such a plan. Seth’s confidence leaves her feeling that she is already late and may be wasting the abilities God gave her.

At Whit’s End, Aubrey tries to ask Connie how a Christian knows whether she is doing enough for God. Because Aubrey disguises the question as a concern about a friend wasting time on unimportant things, Connie assumes she is being criticized for reading a fashion magazine. Offended but determined to prove Aubrey right, Connie throws it away and marches over to minister to nearby children. Aubrey’s attempt to seek guidance only creates a misunderstanding.

Aubrey calls her pastor to ask about serving publicly. Her attempts do not go well. Singing for the residents of a retirement home receives a polite but unenthusiastic response, and volunteering in a children’s Sunday school class leaves her unable to get anyone’s attention. The more deliberately she searches for a grand ministry, the more useless she feels.

Remembering Gideon’s fleece, Aubrey takes her bathrobe outside and asks God to make it wet or dry as a sign of whether she should become a missionary. She quickly becomes tangled in questions about which condition means what, where to place the robe, and whether an animal might disturb it. By the time she returns home, she and the robe are thoroughly wet, but she has no clearer answer.

Bethany expects Aubrey to help with the garbage disposal. Still discouraged, Aubrey complains that she is not a plumber and wonders why their intelligent father spends his life repairing ordinary things instead of becoming president or inventing computers. Bethany gives a simple answer: God put their father there to make things work properly, something he could not do from another job.

Ben confirms that he serves God where he has been placed. He does not always receive a dramatic instruction about the future. Instead, he keeps seeking God and watches for the doors God opens. Looking backward, he often sees how earlier experiences prepared him for later needs. If Aubrey’s heart belongs to God and she makes herself available, her work can matter whether she is serving ice cream or leading a country.

Aubrey immediately proves more useful than she realized by noticing a loose nut Ben has overlooked. Later, Whit’s End’s garbage disposal fails just before a party, and Connie cannot find a repairman. Aubrey recognizes the problem as something she knows how to fix. Rather than wait for a grand future assignment, she rolls up her sleeves to serve where she is needed. The practical skill she once dismissed becomes the open door God has placed directly in front of her.