Cliff’s Hope Story
“I believe that God had me sit in that place for longer than I wanted to so I could learn the lesson of thankfulness, and He could remind me that He is in control.”
From Hope In Empty Places
In 2013, Cliff, his pregnant wife, Leslie, and their two-year-old daughter Kannyn moved far from family and lifelong friends to begin a promising new life in Tennessee. Although the darkness of a recession still draped the country, everything looked bright for the Prestons.
Until it didn’t.
“The job that I had taken in Tennessee suddenly ceased to exist,” Cliff said. “Leslie was pregnant and extremely sick. In a short amount of time, everything that we had taken into consideration to make the decision to move to Tennessee was turned upside down. It wasn’t long before all the savings we had were gone. We were walking this tightrope of trying to survive in a new place, without family or close friends. Things started to get worse as I tried my best to find odd jobs to do and nothing was working.”
All those factors led to ten days Cliff and Leslie refer to as “The Macaroni Mile.” Cliff’s daily task as a provider became scavenging for enough loose change in the house each day to buy a box of macaroni and a can of tomato sauce. Cliff would search the whole house, and once he found around two bucks, he would go to the store and get the noodles and sauce for the day.
Cliff recalled, “We would eat macaroni for lunch and dinner, and I would do the coin search again the next day. This cycle went on for ten days straight. You look in couch cushions, drawers, cups, and cans on counters. I remember lamenting that God had called us to Tennessee, but it felt like we were left to starve. I felt like a failure because I couldn’t support my family. By this time, my daughter told me, ‘I don’t want noodles, Daddy.’ It broke my heart because I couldn’t get her anything except noodles.”
But on the fifth day of “The Macaroni Mile” something shifted, Cliff recalled. “Instead of lamenting ‘Macaroni, again,’ I said, ‘Thank God we have macaroni today!’ ”
Cliff and Leslie had begun attending Gateway Franklin Church a few months earlier. Although they were uncomfortable sharing their plight with our church family, they found hope in the sermon series I was teaching at the time: “Hope in Empty Places.”
“It was not a coincidence that Pastor Charlie was saying phrases like, “Empty is an illusion,” Cliff recalled. “At the time, I remember thinking, Boy, he has no idea what we’re going through. However, Pastor Charlie was right! Empty is an illusion, and there is no such thing as hopelessness because the bottom is where we find Christ most often. God showed Leslie and me that He was faithful by allowing me to find two dollars of change every day!”
Then Day 10 happened.
“Day 10 landed on a Sunday. We got home from church, and I made this proclamation, ‘Les, we’re going to eat well tonight.’ “I started to pray. We needed real money for a good meal. I looked everywhere again and found myself back in our car, where I had previously found lots of loose change and a ton of limp French fries. (Parents of toddlers know what I am talking about.)
“I lifted the center console that I had opened at least ten times. Suddenly, I saw an opening covered by receipts and papers. I put my hand in, pulled up, and the bottom of the center console came loose, revealing a large plastic bag full of coins. Leslie had wrecked one of our cars the previous year, and when she took everything out of the wrecked vehicle, that bag of change made it into our new car. We took that money, went to Kroger, and bought a Salisbury steak microwave plaer and a bag of potatoes. We had a good meal!”
Day 10 started a chain of events where the hand of God continuously provided for the Prestons, including work for Cliff. The blessings were so abundant that the couple made a point every day to stop what they were doing and thank God for what He did.
“It was important that we didn’t become numb to His blessings and provisions,” Cliff explained. “People gave us Kroger gift cards. Others delivered groceries to our house. A random $800 showed up in our checking account. Most of the people who helped had no clue what we were going through. They simply listened to God and blessed us. Without doubt, there is hope in empty places.”
Not long after walking “The Macaroni Miles,” Cliff met fellow songwriter Kyle Lee, who had also heard the “Hope in Empty Places” sermon series. Together, the two men wrote a song, “No Such Thing,” based on that series and their personal experiences.
“The day we began writing the song, Kyle told me, ‘God needs absolutely nothing to create,’” Cliff said. “That truth sticks with me. God doesn’t need anything from me to accomplish His will. So, when we feel hopelessness, it doesn’t constrain the God who created the universe from nothing. That thought started the session where Kyle and I wrote “No Such Thing.” I have led this song in worship and told this story many times. Here are the two main things that I learned through the process.
● God allows us to go through situations so that we may learn to seek and trust him.
● His timing is perfect.”
Cliff will tell you that it’s his nature to do his best to get out of challenging situations as quickly as possible. But he has learned that waiting is not time wasted.
“I believe that God had me sit in that place for longer than I wanted to so I could learn the lesson of thankfulness, and He could remind me that He is in control. Sometimes God’s plan is the water in the storm, and sometimes the macaroni in the bowl. Either way, He’s never late,” Cliff said.
“Our rescue on Day 10 was inside the house the whole time. That bag of coins was always there. God hid it from me until it would make the most impact so that I could witness the working power of Jesus up close. Empty is an illusion. The rescue is still in the room when it feels like all is lost. Hope is not the verb we create; hope is the noun that has always been. Hope is Jesus.”
Want to read more Hope Stories? Check out Charlie’s book, Hope in Empty Places.