I Am About To Burst To Tell The Rest Of This Story...

I've always wanted to be like Paul Harvey and say... "And now, for the rest of the story..." Today I have my chance! Something AMAZING, beyond anything I would have dreamed or imagined, has happened...BUT if you haven't read the post before this one, on What I Love About Zack, read that first...then this story will mean a lot more!

Every summer Zack's orthodontist office does a postcard contest for summer vacations...I can't remember all of the categories, but I figured we were a shoe in for Fartherest Away. I had planned to mail the postcard while we were in China, but I couldn't even remember to buy a postcard, much less get it mailed...I was a little distracted!

So, the day we left to come home, I realized at the airport, in Guangzhou, that I still hadn't purchased any postcards...at the last minute, just as we were getting ready to board the plane, I ran into a little shop in the terminal and grabbed the only box of postcards they had...and paid WAY too much for them! I almost didn’t buy them…

At Zack's next appointment, I decided to just take one in. Since it was early September, I figured we were too late, but turned out, there was still another week left in the contest, so they accepted it. I kept watching our e-mail, but when we never received a notice, I just figured someone had gone even farther than us. I had completely forgotten about it...until today.

Zack had another appointment and as I was checking out, Zack said, "Mom, look, we had the postcard that was the fartherest away!" It was posted on a bulletin board behind him! So I just said to the lady at the desk, "That's cool, we had the postcard that was furtherest away."

She looked up with this surprised expression and said, "Didn't anyone call you?" No...I never heard anymore about it... She jumped up, walked back to another room and came out carrying...

Are you ready for this? A brand new IPOD, just like the one that was stolen! We had NO idea that there was even a prize for this contest...we thought it was just the honor of having your name posted!

And the thing is, Zack's IPOD that was stolen was a refurbished one...he had ordered it to save money, so every once in a while, there would be a little glitch...nothing big, but occasionally we had to reset it... This was NEW!!

Zack took one look at my face and said, "Ah mom, don't cry!" But I couldn't stop my eyes from welling up...he's lucky that I didn't just let the tears flow, like they were threatening to do...you know...that BIG lump in your throat, that somehow holds back the tears, but, if anyone looks at you, or if you try and speak, will break and the flood will come...that was me. I think if we hadn't been standing in the office, in front of so many people, I would have just sobbed!

So, they call Dr. A. to come up front and have his picture made with Zack… I felt compelled to tell him what had happened…I didn’t bring our faith into it, I simply said that “Zack had his IPOD stolen last week, and even though he’s pretty sure he’s knows who did it, he decided not to push it since he couldn’t prove it beyond a shadow of a doubt.” And then I mentioned that the kid he suspects is a troubled young man…

Dr. A looked at us and said, “See what faith can do!” I had ABSOLUTELY no idea where he stood…we’ve never discussed it…he had no idea where we stood!

I realize that many, who don’t live by faith, would argue that this is just a grand coincidence… But I will emphatically say that I do NOT, in any way believe in coincidence…and even more so when so many events transpired to perfectly time this to happen after Zack made a choice to live for something bigger than an IPOD, putting this other child’s heart before his own rights.

Does God ALWAYS bless us, or reward our obedience so visibly? Of course not. Would He still be a good God, even if this hadn’t happened? ABSOLUTELY…

But sometimes, God pauses in the midst of eternity and blows our socks off…I am so completely overwhelmed…but what’s even more important…Zack is overwhelmed! What God did for his faith in that moment…Zack will never forget. Zack made a choice to live in light of eternity and God blessed his obedience!

So maybe you’re wondering, how can we even believe that God of the universe even cares about a 15 year old and his IPOD? Fair question…but the Bible says that He numbers the hairs on our heads…if He cares about how many hairs we have, which changes from moment to moment…why wouldn’t He care about a 15 year old’s disappointment…

Zack has used that IPOD as a testimony…he openly shares what he has on it with his friends, and it’s far different than some of the stuff that they listen to…it’s full of Christian rock… it has other, non-Christian music too…but we’re careful to check the lyrics before we put it on there.

And for the couple of friends that know about this at school, and what his decision was to not pursue it, there’s no telling how this will speak to them.

Matthew 7:11b says, "...how much more will your Father in Heaven give good gifts to those who ask Him." God is an amazing, perfect Father...I have no doubt that He LOVES to bless us, even more than we can think to even ask...

When I think about how I love for our kids to open gifts that we are excited to give them, it's fun to imagine heaven at the moment the lady brought out the IPOD...I wonder if God said to the angels..."Come here for a minute and watch this?" Maybe, maybe not... But I have no doubt that God was watching and smiling as He waited for us to unwrap this unbelievable blessing!

Our God is so BIG that He can use anything to bless us and increase our faith, even an IPOD!

P.S. He said, "This one will not be going to school!" What an awesome remembering stone! Way to go God!!