More than a UPS package

Last week I drove to the UPS Store.  My husband and I decided to discontinue cable TV, and the cable technician told me to take our equipment to UPS for shipping.  I had a bumbling array of boxes, cables, power supplies, and remotes, though my first trip from the car was actually a simple one.  Initially I needed to ask if the UPS worker understood his role the same way the cable guy did.  The second trip would be more of a balancing act, with the tricky part being to manage some free fingers to open the store door.  On the second try, I made it inside.  I approached the cash register and gladly unloaded my pile of equipment.  The worker snickered a bit, “Man, why didn’t she help you?”  I hadn’t known the UPS guy was even watching.  “Why didn’t she hold the door?” he finished.  Yes, I knew the lady he was talking about.  She entered empty-handed a few seconds ahead of me.  I smiled, “It’s okay.  I’ll let God handle it.  He knows what’s going on with her.  Sometimes I’ve been preoccupied myself.”  As the name of God rolled from my lips, my heart felt so free and full for having experienced the Lord’s orchestration of circumstances.  Never had I anticipated mentioning His name there that day.  So as it happened, UPS would deliver my package, and I would get to be a delivery person too.  Carrying God's name is a blessing.  We are humbled to realize we speak into a world where not every workplace and not every household reveres His name.

Hospital hassle

Oh, man!  I was 24 cents short. Now I’d have to leave my lunch tray, go to the locker room, get my wallet, and come back to pay.  On a day when I was really hungry, what a hassle!  The salad bar at the hospital cafeteria is fabulous.  Volunteers receive a lunch voucher, and I look forward to piling a high mix of greens and the works.  Usually tomatoes, egg, cheese, sunflower seeds, lots of veggies, and on special occasions, edamame.  Mine has delicate balance, so I slowly place my plate on the cashier's scale, wanting not to spill any portion.  The cashier takes my voucher and waves me through.  Except this time the lady’s eyebrows furled.  Squinting and leaning to double-check, she says, “Uh-oh.  You’re 24 cents over.”  I hadn’t brought my wallet to the lunch room in years, so I asked what to do.  “Go ahead," she tells me, "Just bring your money before I leave at 1:30."  No problem.  This was now an issue of honesty.  This was important.  I didn’t want to mess up, so I found a napkin and scratched a reminder.  Lunch proceeded with friends and laughter as usual, but I didn’t lose sight of my note on the napkin.  I walked to my locker, counted my coins, and felt joy swelling inside for this opportunity to let honesty shine.  This nuisance of an interruption had become sweet occasion for doing the right thing.  Just 2 dimes and 4 pennies.  I waited my turn in the cashier’s line and gladly presented my fee.  Proverbs 12:16-17 says, "A fool shows his annoyance at once, but a prudent man overlooks an insult.  A truthful witness gives honest testimony, but a false witness tells lies."  Thank you, Lord, for shedding light once again.

Neighborly task gone awry

Your neighbors go out of town, and what happens?  Do you take care of their dog?  Maybe water their plants?  We’ve been recipient of neighborly kindness when friends feed our cats.  Recently, though, we had a different request come our way.  A neighbor asked us to help with his rent house.  As he had moved away years ago, he now had tenants getting ready to leave.  He estimated 30 minutes for us to conduct their exit walk-through.  Several days later, he apologized for the process taking much longer than 30 minutes.  And the task was still unfinished.  Due to problems with some walls and part of the ceiling inside the house, the final transfer of garage door openers and house keys had become complicated.  Our neighbor said, “Sorry for being such a pain.”  We knew he truly felt bad for the inconvenience.  But the occasion became blessed opportunity to explain our motivation for wanting to help.  Matthew 19:19 says to love your neighbor as yourself.  Managing properties long-distance isn’t easy.  If we were in his shoes, we could use the help.  Little did we know in the beginning how this walk-through would be opportunity to live out our Christianity.  Something so small became occasion to share the Bible.  And somewhere in all of this I've smiled to remember that VeggieTales tune:  “When you love your neighbor, loving means lending a hand.”  Those fun Veggies look up toward the music playing overhead to try to figure out where the song is coming from (I chuckle as they somehow hold things with their arms and hands that don't exist.)  I love how God works.

Wedding + rent cars = 8

One small wedding.  Granted, it was a destination wedding.  Savannah is one of the many sweet spots on this earth, and the details appeared finely tuned and ready to go.  With options for flying into Savannah, Jacksonville, or Charleston, we could grab a rent car and even stay the weekend just for fun.  Surely we could share the rent cars once we arrived.  The idea kept sounding good, but in actuality the car scenario wasn’t panning out.  On the day of departure, the bride and groom had trouble from the start.  An overturned concrete truck delayed traffic on the highway and caused them to miss their flight.  Oodles of phone minutes with airlines and $2,000 later, the bride was crying, and the groom's composure had clearly been tested.  The only available replacement flights were out of DFW instead of Love Field, with a return flight out of Jacksonville instead of Savannah, which they quickly booked, though knowing they'd have to sort details later.  They arrived Savannah and rented a car, and the next day the wedding ceremony was beautiful.  All those months of intricate planning certainly proved fruitful.  When the weekend finished and time came to head home, the couple’s rent car still required return to the Savannah airport in order to avoid stiff penalty.  Wanting not to worsen their already $2,000 in the hole, they returned the car as required and hitched a ride to Jacksonville with the bride's grandparents, who had also stayed the weekend to enjoy the city.  The grandparents' rent car had little extra room for luggage, as they never dreamed they’d be carrying the bride and groom on this 2-hour ride to the Jacksonville airport.  Trying to lessen the luggage load, they relegated transportation of the wedding dress to the groom’s dad because he was driving all the way home to Texas without any airport stops.  They carefully stacked 3 suitcases in the middle of the back seat to Jacksonville and hopped in the car for their 2-hour trek.  Considering the bride's family, the groom's family, and the 3 friends who decided to crash the wedding, I counted at least 7 rent cars for a relatively small wedding party, and that seems excessive.  But the cars proved helpful, especially when trying to sidestep the rain that loomed each day and handle various trips for make-up, hair, photos, and food.  I recall the early days of having prayed over this wedding, now realizing the Lord had reason for us to rent all these separate cars.  He knew from the beginning that the concrete truck would overturn and that He would love our family through each agonizing step of the whole ordeal, all the while using the potential catastrophe to actually deepen our confidence in Him as provider.  Everyone still made it to the wedding, and we saw opportunity to put prayer at the forefront once again.  Isaiah 58:11 says, "The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame . . ."  How I love Him for loving us first.  I pray too for the driver of the concrete truck.