God has continued to bless our family abundantly and continues to show His favor upon us. He never fails! I am so blessed to know God as my source and not the world. I would not want to be of the world and not know God's love. I may live in this world, but I refuse to be of this world and that is not always easy to do. Since we were born with a sinful nature and a free will, it is often difficult to overcome the temptations that dazzle before us. We must die of ourselves, pick up our cross and follow Him daily. It is a daily sacrifice. A true christian is known by their character and how they are when no one else is around and that is the hardest thing sometimes, but God is faithful and if you call upon Him for strength and support, He is there to wrap His arms around us and comfort us; even if we don't always feel something.
I have begun to take notice of the little things that God does for us and begin to praise Him for these little things. Who says that small things are not miracles? We need to thank Him for everything; big or small. If we are faithful with the small things, then He is more likely to bless us with bigger things.
Last week after church we went to get some water from the newly opened ice house. This ice house is a large kiosk-type building that is set up to provide water and ice 24/7. You can get a gallon of filtered water for 25 cents and 5 gallons for 50 cents and can get a 16 pound bag of ice for $2.00. The idea behind this kiosk was that we can get everything these days from kiosks. Society has become self-serve in almost every capacity. Now we can rent movies at Redbox for $1.00 a night and not have to pay extra charges at the video store and they have a decent selection to choose from.
At the mall this weekend we saw 2 new kiosks, one was a convenience store in the mall. While there was someone there to assist you, it was still a kiosk to purchase snacks you would normally buy at the gas station. The other one was for facial cleaner, I forget the name of it, but Jessica Simpson has been the spokeswoman for years. I think it is called Pro-active. The crazy thing about this, is that there was a place to select your order and pay with a credit card and it would distribute the makeup for you. A few weeks ago, during my last trip to Minnesota, I saw a kiosk in the Nike store and it was set up to design and pay for your own shoe creation. While it wasn't set up to deliver the product to you, it was still set up to allow a patron to design a shoe of their choice without interruption of a sales person or without the lack of supply in the store. While it still cost extra to buy these shoes, it was still a kiosk. Another type of kiosk I recently saw at a church was in the foyer and it allowed the person to register for the sermon cds/dvds and pay for them, to sign up for church activities, but also to give their tithe using a credit/debit card. This goes way beyond passing the offering bucket/plate. I think this has gotten a little overboard. I really don't believe that a church should have a kiosk designated for monetary purposes. I definitely would not want one in my church. What happened to giving cash or writing a check? Someone who donates with a credit card is running the risk of fees and debt. Who would have ever thought of a person could go into debt by giving to God. He wants to bless us, but I don't think going into debt would reap a blessing from him.
We even have a kiosk in our town for car washes, dog washes, groceries and now we have one at our library to allow a speedier checkout process. What is next? a kiosk at a funeral home? Not trying to be morbid, but before we know it, we will get to where we have kiosks for everything. everything is about convenience. What ever happened to customer service? We have literally begun to replace humans and interaction with computers. I think this was a fear many years ago when the self service check outs were placed in grocery stores and robots were being used in factories to produce products. I do love convenience, but don't get me wrong. We need to get back to the basics and re-establish customer service and personalization in our society.
Anyways, back to my story. I got off on a tangent there and just ran with it. When we went to pay for our water, the man who owned the ice house asked if we wanted any ice and I said we were fine and then he said, "I can't give you free water, but I can give you ice." He ended up giving me a free, 16 pound bag of ice. I didn't hesitate and I gave God praise for it. That was a small miracle and blessing for us and I don't want to forget where the blessing came from. It is really good when you get something for free when you don't have any $$$ coming in. Then came the next blessing for us, on Saturday I received notification that I was eligible for my unemployment. My company tried to deny me, but the state overruled their determination. I gave God praise for this as I have never received these benefits before and while it is not a lot of money, it is still income coming in while I look for another job. God is so faithful and abundantly blesses us. We must not forget to praise Him even in the little things.
Blessings!
Anthony
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