The Woodworker Who Kept the Light On

Marcus Washington had been building furniture in his garage workshop in Durham, North Carolina, for seven years — nights and weekends, after his shift at the warehouse. Nobody paid much attention. He never posted his work online. He just sanded and joined and finished, alone under a single hanging bulb, because the wood made sense to him when little else did.

Then one Saturday, a woman named Carolyn Briggs walked into his open garage. She owned a custom furniture studio in Raleigh and had driven forty minutes because a mutual friend mentioned "some guy who works with wood." Marcus wiped his hands and braced for polite small talk. Instead, Carolyn pointed to a half-finished walnut dining table and said, "You've been using hand-cut dovetails. Nobody does that anymore. How long have you been hiding in here?"

Marcus stared. He had never shown anyone his joinery techniques. She saw what no one else had bothered to look for.

That is the shock Nathanael felt when Jesus said, "I saw you under the fig tree." Not surveillance — recognition. The Almighty does not discover us when we finally step into the spotlight. He has been watching the quiet, faithful work we assumed no one noticed. Every private prayer, every hidden act of devotion, every honest struggle in the garage with the light on — He already knows. And He calls us by name anyway.