I have a confession to make…
It’s not that bad, really…
I L-O-V-E bargains.
But that’s not the confession.
It’s much worse.
It’s that I feel an overwhelmingly strong urge to share with EVERYONE AND ANYONE about my bargains. And by share I mean, state I got “this” (whatever the item is) at _______ for $_____ and the sale is good until ______. And just where does that leave the “listener”? Well, the only polite option is to listen to the recent escapee from the town crazy factory until she (being me) stops.
With no further ado, here I go again…
I L-O-V-E this shirt.
I bought it last year on vacation in a grocery store in Aruba for (get this)…$5 (that’s 500 pennies folks!)!
I wore it once on vacation this year (the same night that Dave was busy shakin’ his groove thing for fellow cruisers)..
God drew a precious illustration on the dry erase board of my heart that I wanted to share with you. I pray that my sharing this with you helps it become more like permanent marker.
The reason I don’t wear my $5 Arubian beauty of a bargain is that it has intricate beading, and the beauty will fade after so many washings…I want it to last. It didn’t cost a lot and I want to hang onto it for as long as I can get it.
After each wearing, I turn it inside out and slip it into a garment bag for safekeeping through the wash cycle.
When another wash cycle is complete, and my shirt comes out a-ok, I’m grateful! This shirt has outlived what I thought.
Here’s something, or much more accurately, someone else I love…
My Pop.
Didn’t have to pay a price for him, got his love for free. And wow has my Pop been through a long laundry list of “washings” (and this is only from 2002 to present):
- Prostate cancer
- Quintuple bypass open heart surgery
- Back to back abdominal surgeries within 24 hours of each other
- Carpal tunnel surgery
- Three merkel cell cancer surgeries
- Radiation and chemotherapy treatments due to the merkel cell cancer
- Numerous spot pre-cancerous cells zapped off
Yes, my Pop has been “washed” many times in his life, and especially in these past seven years, and I assure you, it hasn’t been on gentle cycle. Each and every time we opened the “garment bag” and saw Pop made it through the next “spin cycle” washings of surgeries, I’m again renewed in gratitude and appreciation for his life. Today, my father is in remission.
THANK YOU JESUS! (And I meant that whole hearted, not canned type of way.)
I feel an urgency to –
Live today like it counts, because it does. Enjoy the beauty and the love that surrounds you.
If I could name just one thing I’m grateful for my Dad about, it is this. He’s told me many times, but even more importantly, he’s shown me (and this kid was watching to see if the words matched up to the “sermon!”) to, “keep punching”.
“Keep punching” is a boxing term my grandfather told him and he’s passed that wisdom on to his daughters (with FOUR daughters, a wife and even a female dog, Pop’s been gender-ifically outnumbered that is, until his 13 grandkids hit the scene!). That’s why we got him this shirt while on vacation…
Back to my point…
It is a boxing term that when you feel boxed into a corner and it doesn’t look good…fight like crazy and “keep punching” your way out of the corner so you don’t get knocked out straight on your back.
I say it this way, “Don’t quit” and that’s the essence of my favorite Bible verse (Galatians 6:9).
Same message, different packaging but the essence is the same – maybe you’ve seen it in magazines too -
“Life is fragile, handle with prayer.”
So today I want to ask you, is there something in your life today, that has you feeling, “boxed into a corner?”
I know I do.
I offer this to you (and me…I gotta keep myself encouraged each day!):
- Wash carefully (Seek God)
- Trust God (Pray often)
- Keep punching (Do what He tells you to do)
- Value today for what it is, a gift. (Don’t forget to say, “Thank you!”)
Life is precious.
I’ve seen this verse come alive and I will remind myself of this truth, “Heal me, O Lord and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved, for You are my praise.” Jeremiah 17:14
On behalf of my Grandpa Karl and my Pop I tell you today to, “KEEP PUNCHING” just one more day! 
