So here it was, a Sunday. We continued our relatively new journey of church-going and small group Bible study first thing in the morning - complete with a lack of coffee, a morning half-asleep argument over who's job it was to wash the church dress shirts, our first visit to the later, 11 a.m. contemporary service, and ultimately the realization that we'd overlooked our blessings and the joy of each other's company.
After a post-church trip to buy the dog a new fluffy pillow bed and some dental chews to mint up her breath, we decided to make a trip to the Family Christian Store nearby. As some know, we've been actively reading the Bible for almost a year now and that's particularly become more routine with our churchgoing. We are currently contemplating a family Bible we can study together, and we'd wanted to get some type of nice Bible organizer with tabs, notepad, and such so we could take notes and mark favorate passages. Nice thought.
Well, the first store didn't have any of that nature. Just regular covers with crazy designs, phrases such as "Redemption," or just covers that looked more like purses than a professional organizer. Not what I want. So, we went to a second store.
This presented the first irony. The second store it seems was going out of business. Everything was on clearance. We found an organizer that I'd envisioned, but it was red. Not ideal. In asking if there were any in the back area, the clerk told us everything they had was out on the shelves. Figures. Talking more, we learned they were closing by year's end because of a corporate decision spawned by the economic downturn.
Well. That's a faith downer.... In a time when more people would seemingly need God's tools to learn or spread the Good Word, a corporate body decides to shut down one of spots that could best help that happen. Interesting.
Not wanting to leave our already-traveled mission unfinished, we made our way to the area's third Christian store to seek the type of organizer that could best help in our religious education. After a 20-minute drive there, we arrived - and in amazement learned that the store was closed on Sundays. I was beside myself. Sure, some stores don't open on Sundays as that's God's Day. But seriously. A CHRISTIAN store..... On the most religious day of the week, when so many are in the mindset to educate and be in a mood to be thinking of their faith and possibly in the mood to buy things to compliment it, a store designed for that purpose isn't open.
Amazing. Another irony. Maybe it's a sign. Finding your faith and living that journey through Christ isn't supposed to be easy. Sure, we could have found everything at that first store without a hitch. But, did we become more focused on what we wanted, put more thought into it, delve deeper into the necessity and reasons for that purchase, by having to travel to other spots and endure that mission? In the end, I came home, hopped online, and found in moments what I was looking for. It's not an absolute necessity, sure. I can easily read the Bible and learn it without any organizer. But I want one, it helps me study, to learn, and I feel that it will aid us in our education. That's important. And it feels right.
We have ordered an organizer and it should arrive any day. We are blessed to have that gift, and likely, while ironic in my eyes, the chance to cement our organizing desire to be educated as we move along the early stages of our journey toward accepting Christ and God into our life.
Amen.