On Saturday, July 1st, Marsha and I were going to meet some friends to eat and go to the Royals baseball game. We decided to meet at a restaurant inside a Mall near Royals Stadium. I wanted to buy some shorts for our upcoming vacation and decided to shop for them before we were to meet our friends. I went to a couple different stores and then we met at the restaurant.
While we were sitting there waiting for our meal, I notice my WWJD bracelet was missing. I ALWAYS have it on, so I couldn't imagine what had happened to it. I left the restaurant and went back to the stores I had been in. No one had seen my bracelet. Needless to say, I was very disappointed. I went back to the restaurant and no one had seen it there either. The next day, I called the restaurant and the stores to see if anyone had found it. No luck. I had resigned myself to the fact that the bracelet was lost. I could buy a new one, but it "wouldn't be the same".
The following day (Monday), I golfed with a friend of mine. I told him about losing my bracelet. He knew the significance of it and how much it meant to me. After we finished golfing, I headed home. My route home took me by the Mall where we had eaten on Saturday night. I decided to give it one more try, so I stopped by the Mall to see if my bracelet had been found.
I went into the department store where I had tried on the shorts. Initially, I was going to ask the clerk if anyone had turned in the bracelet. For some reason, though, I decided to go to the rack of shorts that I had looked at on Saturday night. Sure enough, in the pocket of the shorts I had tried on, was my bracelet. Unbelievable!
The way I look at it, it had to have been one of two things, or maybe both. One, Alesia Dawn was looking out for her Dad, or...... Two, NO ONE has as bad of taste in shorts as I do or the bracelet would have been long gone.
After a forest fire in Yellowstone National Park, forest rangers began their trek up a mountain to assess the inferno's damage. One ranger found a bird literally petrified in ashes, perched statuesquely on the ground at the base of a tree.
Somewhat sickened by the eerie sight, he knocked over the bird with a stick. When he gently struck it, three tiny chicks scurried from under their dead mother's wings. The loving mother, keenly aware of impending disaster, had carried her offspring to the base of the tree and had gathered them under her wings, instinctively knowing that the toxic smoke would rise. She could have flown to safety but had refused to abandon her babies. When the blaze had arrived and the heat had scorched her small body, the mother had remained steadfast. Because she had been willing to die, those under the cover of her wings would live.
"He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge." (Psalm 91:4)
~ Winston Abbot
Lovingly lifted from TCF Peace Valley
