Found it!!

3:53 p.m. Today's project was to find Steve's disability check that I lost on Saturday during a moment of frenzied mail sorting.

We had just come home from Lake Havasu that afternoon. Instead of taking all of the mail into the house to go through later, I took the whole pile directly to the dumpster, like always, and held the "keeps" in one hand and the "throws" in the other. I saw the check, and assuming it was in the correct hand, threw out all of the junk mail, took the other pile in, and went about clearing and cleaning out the RV for the next few hours. (And of course I had to load our fireworks pictures onto the computer!)

While the second of two washloads was going, I sat down at the kitchen table and sorted things out, and could not find the check! I went through the paper recycle basket in the kitchen, the one in the garage, and then back out to the blue dumpster!! I tipped it, shuffled the papers around, inspected and re-inspected every unopened business-sized envelope, and then went in to fix Steve some chili and cornbread, aggravated, but not giving up. I prayed and searched again later, with a flashlight, but it was not in the RV, the garage, my purse, the bathroom, or any other place I'd been on our property!

Not a good feeling, losing over $1,000, but the Lord gave me a peace about the situation. "Peace I leave with you," Jesus said in John 14:27a, "My peace I give to you..." The peace I felt was two-fold: either that I would find the check, or, that we could make our monthly bills without it, if it never turned up! The God I serve is so gracious, so loving!

Sunday morning found me still determined to find the check, but more wrapped up in exchanging our Valentines' gifts and cards, and getting to church by 9:45. As the service started, I worshiped as usual, but when collection time came, I was pondering this question: Should I tithe the amount I usually would, trusting that God will help me find the check? Or, on the "flip side of the coin," should a person pay tithes on money they actually don't possess? (This is the problem with an overactive brain--arguing both sides of the question at once!!) I mentally threw up my hands, and not wanting to write out a potentially bouncing check, I focused on Pastor John's excellent message on standing for the Lord based on Daniel Chapter 3, the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego testifying and surviving the fiery furnace.

After church, Steve and I filled up the Jeep's gas tank and went to CVS, and then home, where I went back out to the dumpster in my good clothes and heels, never one to give up or waste time changing clothes in my hot pursuit of that check! Little did I care that the neighbor across the street was out with her daughter selling Girl Scout cookies in full view of the spectacle. Aaargh! Still no check!!!

The afternoon flew by, and soon it was time to change into dressy clothes for the Married Couples' Dinner our church sponsored in Murrieta at the Calvary Chapel Conference Center. Steve and I had a ball with our friends from the Home Fellowship we attend, and a nice evening together at home. Heidi and Pavel were out on Newport Bay on a dinner cruise, lucky ducks! But I wouldn't trade my 28 years of marriage for all the excitement of courting days!! No way.

Today dawned with our good morning devotional routine, my hair appointment and a $97 sale of Mary Kay products to the nail salon owner next door. Then it was time to pick up Steve's Sleep Study equipment at Dr. Rai's office. More on that tomorrow--I am totally untechnical, but I believe Steve will manage to put it on tonight anyway!

Before we left for the doctor's office, we had prepared a large black trash bag to put all of the paper recycle bin's contents in, part of a last-ditch effort to find that check. So I got it all set up, and Steve kindly offered to begin the ultimate search for his check that I lost...

He found the check in perfect condition, and we will get it endorsed and deposited today!! Like the parables of the shepherd looking for the lost sheep and the woman searching for her lost coin (Luke 15:1-10) we weren't about to give up. I've joyfully written out my tithe check and find myself not only grateful, but more trusting.