Chandler's Suitcase

Chandler and Regan came home from camp yesterday, but seconds before they pulled up, I got the bad news from Darrenn: Chandler's suitcase had fallen from the roof of the vehicle onto the freeway.

Poor Chandler. She is attached to her stuff and is very sentimental, but her whole life, I've been teaching her that "stuff is just stuff." We have talked numerous times about how Jesus tells us that the stuff of this will world will be destroyed. Everything will either decay or get stolen. It all ends up in landfills. Not "may" but "will".

So she started off being sad as we made our list of each item contained in the case. Nothing too expensive on it's own, but of course it adds up. Three outfits, pj's, her Bible, shoes, socks, underwear. Thankfully they had the foresight to forbid electronic equipment!

Once the list was made and I assured her nothing was irreplaceable, we set off to Justice. Most was replaced in that trip alone. We'll hit Target as well and a Bible bookstore for a new Bible and cover.

She'll be fine.

The interesting part was a conversation we had in the car on the way to the store.

I had just learned from my Jon Courson audio files that God never allows something to happen for which we are not prepared. So I might look at a situation and think, "I could NEVER handle that!" And it may very well be true. God has not prepared me for that circumstance.

So when Chandler mentioned how "ironically" the speaker had just that morning talked about not putting our hope and trust in stuff, I saw a teachable moment. We discussed that the topic was not in fact ironic, but was God's way of preparing her. We talked about other ways He has prepared her for this sad event. She has a mother that does not value stuff and has always taught her that, for one thing!

So in the grand scheme of things, far worse events have occurred. But for her this was her little trial and character-building episode.

She's doing fine.