I have learned in my life, and probably only one thing: things have a way of reaching me. I can’t get away with it.
It’s not that I don’t try. There were a few times when I came very close to getting away with it, but it didn’t turn out the way I expected.
Highlight an example. Last year, someone hacked into Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage’s bank account and bought a case of wine for around $ 700. It took her a few days to see this in her bank account. When he saw it, he immediately went to the bank to dispute it.
The interesting thing about this purchase on his account was that it happened while he was playing the piano in church one Sunday morning here in Florida, and it was made at the same time in Southern California. I know my wife is great, but I didn’t think I could do that. Being in two different places at the same time is magical.
Maybe he has more arrows in his quiver than he imagined.
He finally managed to fix it with his bank and they gave him back the money. For a while, she was a little worried and checked her bank account every day.
Every now and then, being the type of person I am, I ask him after Sunday service, “Did you buy wine today?”
I found it quite funny but, being on the opposite side of the aisle from the marriage, she disagreed with that assessment.
Being a country boy, I like to take every opportunity I get. I remember saying to him at the time, “I didn’t know you drank wine.”
After a while, he stopped responding and only gave me one of his infamous scowls, which only piqued more interest in the subject.
For a while, I thought I was getting away with it. Things, however, have a way of catching up, particularly with me, when I least expect it.
Several weeks ago, while checking my bank account online, I noticed a transaction for $ 159.32 for, among all things, cigars. But I don’t smoke cigars!
I delved into it a bit and found that I bought those cigars in New Jersey at the same time I was preaching from the pulpit here in Florida. Is it possible that I have now risen to the height of the Gracious Mistress of the Parish House?
Trust me, I was more than aggrieved by that kind of thing. $ 159.32 is a lot of money to me, and spending it on cigars when I don’t smoke cigars is a sham.
The next day I went to the bank to dispute this transaction. After some time with my banker, he was able to take care of that. It took several days for that money to return to my account. Believe me, I checked my account every day until finally, the transaction went away.
The fact that that transaction took place in New Jersey at the same time that I was preaching here in Florida was quite disturbing. I thought maybe someone did this deliberately.
However, that was not the end.
“After all these years you haven’t told me everything about yourself,” my wife told me. “Why didn’t you tell me you smoke cigars?” Then she laughed. Je n’ai pas.
It prompted me to have an intense conversation about the fact that I did not smoke cigars in any way; So why in the world would I buy cigars? Looking at her, I could see that she was enjoying this to the hilt.
“Is there anything else,” he said seriously enough, “that you didn’t tell me?”
Well, if there was, I wouldn’t remember it at my age. Then, while standing there with her jaw dropped to the ground, she started laughing hysterically.
“Ha ha ha, I got you.”
But it wasn’t over yet.
The next Sunday after church service, on the way home, my wife looked at me quite seriously and said, “Honey, did you have any cigarettes today while you were preaching?” Then he laughed heartily and I muttered under my breath as I clenched my teeth.
I didn’t understand where he was going with this, and then he said something else: “By the way, I didn’t buy wine today while I was playing the piano.” She laughed again.
When he said that, I understood where this was all coming from.
At that very moment, we made a pact. I won’t ask her about buying wine if she doesn’t ask me about buying cigars on Sundays.
It just showed me that things have a way of coming back on me. I need to learn to pass up some things even though I may be tempted to use them to entertain myself.
I am sure that in the future, somewhere, sometime, I will have the opportunity to enjoy this entertainment. I have to keep in mind, what I think I have, my wife has too.
I remembered what the apostle Paul said. “Do not be deceived; God cannot be mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap” (Galatians 6: 7).
I thought about that for a while. Whatever you do, it has repercussions. The way you treat a person is the way they will treat you somewhere along the way.
