love, love, love

Here are three things that I love: God, my iPod Touch and Caribou Coffee. Although these aren't the only things I love, they are, at least, presented in the order of my current love for them. And here's a little story about that.

On Memorial Day, I had to work. My current project had a quick turnaround time and extensive requirements, and so even though I was disappointed that I had to spend the holiday laboring, I decided to at least give myself some variety and I headed to my favorite coffee shop to listen to my beloved iPod, drink a delicious coffee cooler and apply myself to the work at hand. As evening drew near, I packed up my gear and headed home. What I didn't know at the time, however, is that somehow I'd left my iPod behind. I do know, for sure, that I packed it up, though...so it somehow fell out of my bag. Of course, I didn't realize it until several days later. A call and a stop at Caribou let me know that the iPod had not been found there. And so my neighbor helped me search my car, my house and even under my bed (now that's a good neighbor, right there!). No iPod. But my neighbor was determined. "Call Caribou again," she instructed me, "and ask about it. And call Meijer, too, while you're at it!" The girl had just examined the recesses of my car with a flashlight. If she'd told me to keep my nails polish-free for two weeks, I'd have done it in gratitude!

So, I called the coffee shop. It was a weird conversation..."Hold on -- I'll check. grmple shewish murmur fldihpss soihfsd." And then a different voice came on the line: "We'll call you back in the morning after we look for it." Seemed a little weird. But, at least I'd called. I called other stores, too, and then went to bed, figuring that I'd simply have to shell out the bux to get a new iPod. Which did not feel good.

The next morning, bright and early at 6:50 a.m., I get a phone call! "This is the guy from Caribou. We found your iPod. Only one problem...it's been wiped clean. It looks like maybe someone was going to keep it and they had a change of heart. You can pick it up when you come through the drive-through window. Just ask for the guy that found something of yours." Well, my first feelings were overwhelming joy and relief. And my second thoughts? Whaaaa? It all seemed a little too weird. I was bothered that "someone" had a change of heart, but not the guts to apologize. And, yet, I was grateful that there was a change of heart and I could have my iPod back. Someone didn't do the right thing the first time, and yet...they did do the right thing in the end. Do you reward that? How do you express gratitude? I was hurriedly getting ready to leave town, so I prepared a note that I planned to give to the finder this week. And I really began to think about some interesting parralells. I've included the text here.

Thank you so much for helping to reunite me with my iPod Touch. It was so disappointing to think that I had lost such a valuable thing and such a relief to hear you tell me that you had found it.

I suppose I won’t ever know the full story of my little iPod’s travels without me -- who found it, who formatted it, why they decided to return it to me -- but that’s okay. At the very least, you are a person who decided to do the right thing and get it back to me. Sometimes doing the right thing is easy. But sometimes doing the right thing is a more difficult choice. So, I’m grateful for the part you played in reuniting me with my iPod and hope that you’ll enjoy the enclosed iTunes gift card for your own iPod, if you have one, or as a gift to pass along to someone else, if you don’t.

I can’t help but tell you of the parallels that this experience has in my own life. You see, I once was lost and then was found...and when I was found, I was wiped clean, too. We have all been created to be in a relationship with God, but our willingness to choose other things, rather than Him, makes us lost in the world, looking for things that will give us only temporary pleasure. Good as we are, we have all come short of God's standard of perfection. And the penalty of coming up short is to be lost eternally. But the good news is that because he loved us, God sent his son, Jesus, to take the penalty we deserve for sin, and he died in our place. Three days later, He came back to life, to prove sin and death had been conquered. And, because I believe in God and Christ and trust in what He has done to save us...because I know that I depend on Him alone for forgiveness and for eternal life...I’ve been found. Just like my iPod. And even better...because I’ve asked for his forgiveness, he wiped me clean. Just like someone did to my iPod. God gave me a new heart, formatted with a desire to love and honor him. I still miss the mark -- a lot -- but whenever I ask, he “re-formats” the parts of me that are without him. And the joy that he brings to my life far surpasses the joy I felt when you called to tell me you’d found my little electronic device.

I hope that, if you haven’t been already, you’ll soon be found by God, too.

The only problem is, for a variety of reasons that would make this post WAY too long, I ended up leaving the last paragraph off the note I gave him. Instead I basically used the first two sentences and the Web address for www.iamsecond.com. But it was such a neat thing that the Lord gave me, that I really felt like I wanted to share it with you guys.