Miracle #3

Okay...I told you about the Miracles we saw last Tuesday. Some big, some small, as I said. Miracle #1 was fantastic adoption news for our friends. Miracle #2 was about some amazing things happening for both someone we know and someone we don't.

I'll confess that for our 3rd miracle, I am a tad reticent to actually tag it as a "miracle." If you want to question my theology, I understand-I'm questioning it on this point myself. But even if we can't call it a miracle, I would call it "something really cool God did for my son."

You see, I had Andrew with me in Costco about a month and a half ago. He saw a "Space Exploration" kit that he desperately wanted. Problem? He had about $10 saved, and the set was $20.

Naturally, he asked if he could get it. I wanted him to have it...he's thoroughly enjoying our astronomy studies this year. He had his $10 with him, earned as commissions for a few of his chores. We don't pay the kids for every single thing they do around here, b/c it's just not realistic-wouldn't it be great to get paid for every chore you do around your family home? :) But there are a few chores for which they get paid a commission, and from that they're learning to tithe, save for college, save for an item they want to purchase, or just have on hand for spending.

The kicker is this: You can't very well expect your children to learn to NOT live on credit IF you keep giving them credit! Would it have been completely painless for me to pay the extra $10 he didn't have and just tell him to pay me back after he got paid out of the egg money? (He gets a cut out of egg money for doing all the chicken chores). Yes, it would have been painless. Would it have defeated the purpose of teaching him to handle money? Absolutely.

So I simply told him that he would get paid from the egg money before we came back to Costco, and he would have enough to buy it then.
"But what if it's not here anymore?" he worried.
"Don't worry...it's here for the Christmas season. They'll be plenty here when we come back." And I wasn't just trying to make him feel better...I really believed it.

Fast forward six weeks. Andrew eagerly waiting through all of our appts. and errands to end the day at Costco. Striding through the store to get to the book section. Eyes wistfully scanning the displays, worry etched into his features.

And then he spied it. One solitary Space Exploration kit left. No sign of the display. No other items similar nearby, or anywhere. Just one battered and torn box cast off to the side, containing one precious space kit.

Did we get our own miracle that afternoon in Costco? It sure felt like it. Thank you, Lord, for being faithful in your concern for the details of our lives. Andrew is so grateful. And so am I.