Most of the gifts received at Christmas time are tangible, material and able to be physically enjoyed, however, some of the most lasting gifts are the ones that no one can touch, taste or feel. Here is an example:
A man stopped to refuel his car one evening and was walking inside the store to prepay for his gasoline. On the way inside, he looked at the ground only to discover a visa card, a gift card from Walmart and a man's driver's license lying on the ground directly in front of another car that was refueling. Without really looking at the cards fully, the man picked them up and asked the people refueling their vehicle whether the cards were theirs to which they shook their heads and said a very kind “no”. The man walked inside the store and decided to give the cards to the store attendant just in case the person who lost them might return to the store looking for the lost items.
There was a long line in the store, and the card discoverer began to look more closely at the cards, especially the driver's license, as he waited in line. The address revealed where the man lived who lost the cards, and his dwelling place was nearby. Since it was at nighttime the man who had discovered the cards thought about giving the cards to a Sheriff officer who was also waiting in line. He thought again about just giving them to the store attendant, but he finally decided to take a risk and get involved.
After a few more moments of waiting in line, the man decided to drive to the man's house and deliver the lost items himself. He turned down one street and wound down another until the address was spotted. Although the house was barely lit, the moment of truth was now at hand, and the man decided to go to the door and ring the doorbell. A woman in her housecoat looked out the side door window and wondered who was ringing her bell so late in the evening, but she was quick to respond when she was notified by the kind stranger of his purpose for being at her front door. She quickly ran to get the key for her front door lock, open the door, retrieved the cards and driver's license, and spoke a few words about how difficult she and her husband's day had been. She said, “God bless you”, closed the door, and the deed was over.
The cards were returned. The man walked back to his car, and he was on his merry way when he understood that he had just given a gift that had no expectation of return, and he thought this is an example of what Christmas is all about in the first place: God's incredible intangible gift to those who were strangers without any expectation of return.
Until tomorrow...Why Say More?
Find the new devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation” in all major bookstore sites, www.amazon.com ; www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, find locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore
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