I met a friend for a lunch date. We visited for several hours. I had some errands to do afterwards. One of the errands was to drop a box off at Good Will. I had prepared an envelope with a check for a dr. inside. It was sealed, signed, addressed. It only needed a stamp on it. It was so cold that day. I hastily grabbed the box for Good Will, the envelope, some water bottles, my purse and went out the door.
After lunch, I went shopping and froze while loading the groceries into the car. Good Will was my next stop. I grabbed the open box of items I was donating and handed it to the collection attendant. Went home, unpacked my groceries, and left again to pick up my son from practice. Along the drive I began pondering. Hmm...did I complete my goals for the day? I did this...check. I did that....check. Did I mail my envelope? NOPE! Wait. Where is it? O no, it was inside the Good Will box...I held them both together when I got into the car...and forgot to grab it.
I was chasing all the crazy thoughts in my head of what I needed to do next. Rationally, however, I had to pick my son up first, and do a few of his requested errands. It was only two hours since the drop off. It was a sealed envelope. It was an addressed envelope to a doctor. Surely, the Good Will; will show me Good Will in doing the right and proper thing with my envelope. It had my name and address on it. It was being sent to a DOCTOR!
We walk into the Good Will, I see a familiar face and I tell her what happened. She was like...hmm let me go into the back and see if they found it. I feel a sudden need to pray for Justice and Integrity. As I'm praying, I hear a voice echo from the closed doors, "the one with the CHECK in it." Whoa, wait a minute. How would they know there was a 'check in it' unless they opened my sealed envelope that I had dropped off there only two hours prior? Now, I'm getting mad...Wait a second...what would I have done? I would have tried to look up the return address to contact the person sending this sealed envelope to a doctor. I would have wanted it in a safe place in case the donor came back looking for it. I would have NEVER had the gull to immediately open someone else's mail.
I saw a man with another person following him and I had a KNOWING he was the store manager. Our eyes locked...The next thing I know, the girl flies past me. She didn't see me shadowing her. I hear her say to that man I had assumed as the manager, 'Where the check?' He then glanced at me...and they all turned to me because the girl didn't know I was standing directly behind her. His eyes and my eyes locked again...and I began 'reading his mail.' I felt like he was guilty of something...I felt he began to be convicted of something. She asked him again...'Where's the check?' He replied, "What are you talking about?" The girl said, "they just handed it to you." The manager said, 'I don't know...let's go see.' All three of them went to the back again. I was like...whoa...wait a minute here. He's lying. He's thieving...The check was endorsed for the doctor. I began praying for a conviction upon his heart to do the right thing. I began praying that whatever he was planning to do with that check, his plans would falter, if his intention wasn't righteous.
The next thing I know...the girl comes out and says, "They just shredded your check." I'm looking at her in SHOCK! I was not processing this protocol of unrighteousness. I just dropped the box off two hours prior and in that amount of time, they opened my mail, and shredded my check! Are you serious? The girl said to me, "At least you have the peace of mind knowing the check was shredded and no one can go cash it." She then proceeded to say, 'If you would have gotten here just 15 minutes sooner, they wouldn't have shredded it.' I began filling with an indignation...like, this is NOT good will...This is not Righteous. You didn't even give me a day to come and claim my check before you so nicely 'shredded it." 'If I would have only gotten here 15 minutes sooner! Are you seriously saying that to me right now?'
"Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those who have his good will!" Luke 2:14
I will chose to walk in God's Good Will so I can have Peace. This is my take on the spiritual aspect of this happening. I believe the girl that was assisting me was my 'justice.' She went in there on behalf of me as she looked for my envelope. As 'justice' searched the truth of the matter out. She insisted that justice prevail. I feel like that manager was going to cash that check and pocket it. I feel that his intentions were impure. He had no intention of shredding that check...But as 'justice' prevailed, he suddenly had the check 'shredded.' God did go before me with justice leading the campaign of truth in the darkness.
I feel the need to contact Good Will and speak to Human Resources about this 'protocol' to see if it's a normal procedure to open people's mail and offering no grace period to claim their sealed mail if it's accidently misplaced in their donation. Every bit of this story is 'off' to me.
I contacted the issuer of the check and had a 'stop payment' on it and another reissued for the doctor...That was a lot of extra distractions I had to do in exchange for a Good Will donation.
Let me tell you what my expectation of the story's ending would have been.
About sixteen years ago, I kinda did the same thing. However, this time I wasn't even aware that I had misplaced a sealed envelope into my donation. I was totally unaware that I had left a hidden surprise in my donated items. I donated to the Thrift Store that is in my local community. This Thrift Store is ran by a unified group of ministries to help the needy in our community. I had three children at that time...They were all little. One day I got a knock at my front door. I opened to find a stranger I had never met handing me a sealed envelope with my son's name on it. She went on to explain that when they were going through the donations, they had found this. They saw there was an address on it and wanted to return it to the address.
Not only did they set the sealed envelope to the side...They brought it to my house. I had forgotten completely about this sealed envelope. I opened it up. Guess what was in there? A $400 bond that I had purchased for my son's birthday. I must have gotten the mail...and it must had slipped into the container I was donating without me even realizing it fell out of my hands. When you have three little kids running around...everything is on fast forward...fast happenings...a blur!
I was so honored and humbled that the Lord kept my child's inheritance safe in the hands of people full of honor and integrity. I would have never known this was even robbed from him. But, God in his great mercy, rebuked the devourer from it.
So, in my naivety, I assumed we would have a righteous ending at the Good Will...instead, it was NOT Good Will. I pray for that man who thought it was okay to open someone else's mail and shred someone else property without even an effort to contact the owner or a gracious waiting period of even one day to see if someone would claim it.
There were definitely other life lessons I learned through this experience.
Luke 6:27-36 (ESV)
27 “But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. 29 To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic[b] either. 30 Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back. 31 And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.
32 “If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. 34 And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount. 35 But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. 36 Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.
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