God made His point quite clear on Sunday morning when I turned to greet a new family during the classic "turn and greet" portion of our service.
The handshake and awkward conversation that followed was really the conclusion of a funny story which began a couple weeks prior at the Olympic Torch Relay ceremony in downtown Owen Sound. At the Torch Relay Coca Cola was kindly handing out free unique 2010 Olympic 250ml bottles. My brother in law started downing them and putting away a "couple" for later. I got in on the action and soon had a couple pockets full (about 8). As we were waiting for the Torch to come by a man quickly made his way past us handing out limited ed. glowing coca cola bottles. We received 3 (1 for each of us) and waved them proudly as the Torch came streaming by. Later when we returned home my brother in law (always looking for quick money) checked eBay to see if these limited ed. bottles were selling, sure enough they were going for about $30 a pop - pun intended. Next day I had all 3 of ours up on eBay and the bids were coming in from Italy, Australia, Belgium, China, US and even Kingston ON. This quick money drove me to want more of the action. So I took it further, I put together an ad (saying I'd pay $10 for your Olympic Glow Bottles) on our local classifieds (Kijiji Owen Sound), and shelled out a couple extra $ to advertise on the main page top banner for everyone to see.
The view counter went nuts, 10 people, then 20, then 160 and now it's almost 400. But only 1 call. It was a young woman whose children wanted to sell their glow bottles and I was to meet them at about 12:30. After getting out the cash I was becoming embarrassed, I'm not a coke memorabilia fanatic, what was I doing? How was I going to explain this? Julie made it clear she was staying in the car. As we pulled up to a very nice home the children's faces pressed up against the window and I knocked on the door. I was invited in. I ended up buying a flag, 7 more glow bottles and a couple aluminum ones. I told the woman how I was planning to sell them on eBay and I tried to act somewhat normal making small talk with the children who were collecting money to buy a Nintendo DSI. The bottles were in pretty rough shape (wrinkled, torn, ripped) I wasn't sure if I'd be able to sell them, but I took the whole bunch for $40. As we pulled out of the driveway Julie said "I bet you'll run into them again" although I was hoping I was finished with the awkwardness.
"We know you, you bought coke bottles from us" was the first thing she said when I turned around to shake their hands. The husband gave me the same look he had on the day I came by their house. I quickly clued in to what was going on and asked the kids if they'd raised enough for their DSI and then I kept smiling and slowly turned around to sing worship to my God.
I worshipped God like I hadn't in quite a while, as it felt like God was laughing at the outcome of His inside joke. I laughed along as the joke was on me. I had stepped right into His kicker, the catch point, He had me all along knowing this Sunday's "turn and greet" would be lots of fun.
A point well made. I'm called to be in this position, I have responsibilities. God is watching how I operate my life on a daily basis. I can't make a couple extra dollars on the side without His knowing. It's impossible to categorize my life, and I don't normally want to. Except for the days I find myself involved in things I'm not overly proud of. These are the days I'd like to keep hidden from God.
I am reminded that God is omnipresent. (He's everywhere, knows every situation). That can be comforting or concerning. Depends on how we live our lives. Deut 4:7 " For what great nation has a god as near to them as the Lord our God is near to us..." No other god is so near as our God.
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