Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Another lesson in rights

Just when I think that I have a good perspective on the things that are "mine" God sends another test my way to see just how tightly I am holding onto my possessions. On Saturday, as I was enjoying an hour away eating breakfast with my lovely wife, the jeep was broken into and the radio and a set of sockets were stolen. This happened on a busy street with lots of foot traffic. I never even dreamed that something like that would happen in that location. Anyhow, as in the past when various other small things have been expropriated, I was challenged, once again, to realize that all of the "things" that I like to think are mine, are really God's things. I can quickly judge just how tightly I am holding onto those things by my reaction when I found out that they have been taken. Do I rejoice or am I infuriated that someone would dare to do such a thing? Well, I wouldn't say that I rejoiced, but am happy to say that I have found that I can have peace even in such circumstances.
Here is the rest of the story: We had parked almost directly in front of an internet cafe where a friend works. We went in and said hi then walked 50' down the street to eat. A bit later the friend looked out and saw that someone was in the jeep so he said, "hey, isn't this steve's jeep". The kid said that it was someone elses and so, since he didn't see us anywhere, our friend went back inside to work. We returned to the jeep a bit later and quickly realized what had happened. I started it up to leave and, being that the power wire for the now nonexistent radion was shorted out inside, melted all the wires together that went to the positive battery terminal. After a quick "farmer fix" another friend accompanied me to our favorite electrician and he had it all fixed up before lunch.
On a side note, when I bought the jeep the ignition was so worn that any key in the world would start it. It was on my list of things to fix until a couple weeks ago a friend came to work and said that he had a dream that the jeep was stolen. Within a couple days I went and had the ignition replaced. What would have happened if I had not had it replaced? Who knows, but I firmly believe that God speaks to us in many different ways.

The Lord bless you and keep you. May His face shine upon you and give you peace."

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