A few years ago, maybe five, I was an e-Bay junkie. I'd browse for anything that lit on my mind-housewares, books, classic toys. One particular item--a metal lunchbox that I used in elementary school had me searching and eventually bidding. It was perfect, just a few minor scratches, thermos still intact, very good condition. I bid. And waited. And had the winning bid until the final few seconds of the auction wore down and a sniper stole the coveted lunchbox from me. I mentioned it to my husband, who I thought hadn't been paying attention at the time.
Fast-forward to Christmas of whatever year it was: I opened a special gift from my darling husband, and there it was: the much-coveted lunchbox. Only...it wasn't the one I'd been bidding on. No, this one was dinged up, with paint gashes. I inspected it closely, then unlocked the metal clasp and opened the hinged door. No thermos either. Instead, inside, an aged strip of black Dymo label with the letters L-a-c-i-n-d-a spelled out, was taped on the floor of the box. My mind stirred. Could it be? I mean, really? Could my husband have managed to somehow reach back into my childhood, fish through all of my silly belongings, and present me with the very lunchbox I used? How?
I can only answer with one word: GOD. Psalms 139:1 says "O Lord, you have examined my heart and know everything about me." Verse 5 reads "You both precede and follow me, and place your hand of blessing on my head." Verse 6 continues: "This is too glorious, too wonderful to believe!" and verses 17 and 18 record the following: "How precious it is, Lord, to realize that you are thinking about me constantly! I can't even count how many times a day your thoughts turn towards me."
I know that God has already provided the BEST gift in the form of His son, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, but if we are willing to pause~look~listen~hear~smell~and touch, He is able to give us many more gifts in order to show us how in love with us He is.
I believe God used my husband and that lunchbox to teach me how individual and personal He is. It does seem (even to me) too marvelous to believe that He would nudge my husband to search e-Bay for a similar lunchbox, find one and be a winning bidder, only to discover that it is THE very item I grew up with. The item was shipped from Texas, how it got there in the first place is a mystery, other than perhaps my mother may have sold it at a yard sale when I was a teenager. The strip of Dymo label I do recall very well. In sixth grade, Michele Finck spelled out my name with a label maker and often spelled my name Lacinda, rather than Lucinda. She fastened it to my lunchbox, but I removed it from the outside and placed it inside. Not believing He is able to do something so wild and unique would be similar to putting Him inside a [lunch]box.
Now, I know some of my friends and even relatives roll their eyes and mock this story, and in all good-natured fun it does seem, even to me, most unbelievable. But I believe in a God who knows everything about me. He precedes and follows me and places His hand of blessing on my head. How precious it is, to realize that He is thinking about me constantly, and yet, how hard it is to believe that He would do this simple thing for me as a reminder of how personal he is. "This is too glorious, too wonderful to believe!"
And yet, I believe.
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