 I
am a firm believer in the fact that all things work together for those
that love the Lord. I truly believe that God is certainly at work in all
of our lives and we see this in many, many different ways each and every
day. This is a cruel world that we live in and if we didn’t have some
hope that there is a plan to it all, then I guess we’d be pretty sad,
wouldn’t we? I don’t claim to understand it all. I don’t know why
bad things happen to good people. I don’t know why good things happen to
bad people. I just know that it’s not my plan, and I have to go on and
try to make things as good as I can for those around me that I can touch
or influence in some way or another. People are so different about the
things we believe in concerning our spiritual lives. Me, I don’t concern
myself. I figure that judgment of folks is not my responsibility and
it’ll be taken care of sooner or later. Even though we might wish for
some of it to be sooner, rather than later. Having said all of that, I can
now get to the crux of today’s story.
Someone once told me that a coincidence was
a minor miracle in which God chooses to remain anonymous. I happen to
believe that this is true as well. This week, I finally get my income tax
return done for 1999. I ended up owing about $13,000 in income taxes. Now,
this is a surprise to me and I really didn’t have any idea where this
was going to come from. Two hours after I pick up the return, an old
client of mine calls me and tells me to meet him for coffee. He’d gone
through some bad times in the 80’s like a lot of other folks and had
taken bankruptcy on his business. I had done some work for him and
wasn’t paid since he didn’t have the money and was in bankruptcy. This
is 15 years ago. I had forgotten about it and went to meet him as he is a
really good man and a valuable friend. He tells me that the bankruptcy has
finally been settled and gives me an envelope. What’s inside? Well,
it’s a check for $10,000 for the work I did all of those years ago. Is
this great or what? He could have kept the money and I would never have
been any wiser. But, he is an honest man and a trusted friend. A true joy
in my life and one that renews your faith in the goodness of mankind.
While we’re on this subject, I’d like to also discuss my miracle UT
(University of Texas) baseball cap. Now, you read all the time about these
folks that have some statue of Christ or the Virgin Mary and they are seen
to be weeping tears or whatever. Thousands of folks flock to their houses
to see these miracles in motion. I don’t know how to explain this, but
on my porch is a hat rack. When I’m working in the yard, I grab one of
these caps and wear them while I’m doing yard work or whatever. Several
months ago, when I would leave the house to go to my car, this cap would
be wet, as if I had sweated on it when I was working out in the sun. Now,
at first I just figured that one of the kids had used it and didn’t
think anything else about it. Then I noticed that it’s be dry for a day
or so then get completely wet again. Well, I started thinking that maybe
the ceiling had a leak in it, but couldn’t find any water anywhere
around. So, I switched caps and put a dry on in its place. Next day, the
UT cap was wet and the other one is completely dry. What’s this all
about? I remember a bible passage in Judges about Gideon laying out a dry
fleece to test God. I’m not too keen about testing God so I really
didn’t want to do this but I did want to find out what’s going on with
this weeping cap of mine. I don’t wear it, don’t let anyone else wear
it and guess what? It still shows up each morning all sweat stained and
wet. This is really starting to concern me to think I may have some holy
UT relic in my household. Since I didn’t go to UT I don’t think I am
worthy of having something this important on my back porch. Besides I
don’t want thousands of UT students and former students trampling over
my roses and flowerbeds. What if it was some prognosticator of the future
of their football games? After thinking about this, I’m not sure I’d
want to know if they would win or not. After having thought about this
problem and what would be the best way to solve it, I came up with this
idea. Another of my sons went to A&M. As you can imagine, there is a
lot of rivalry in our house at Thanksgiving. I’ve got a ball cap from
his college as well. What I’m going to do is to hang this one up and see
what happens. Maybe one will get wet and the other one will stay dry. Or
the other way around. In any event, if you’re in the neighborhood drop
over and see our mysterious weeping UT hat. Maybe you can explain it. I
can’t. See your comments and explanations to me at www.pearyperry.com. |
