Details and God's Details (The Bottle Story)

It seemed like a God-inspired idea--collect pop bottles to help fund the "extras" for the people and organizations we come in contact with in Mexico. The response was overwhelming. Before we knew it, we had a huge collection of bottles in our back yard. Between the first 2 trips, $150 came in for Mexico! I was overwhelmed by what God was doing.. Just when I thought the bottles were slowing down, more came. Then we woke up this morning . . .

Looking outside, we noticed our side gate was propped open with a pylon from our yard and our collection of bottles missing! Now, it wasn't opened at 9:30, when we arrived home last night, nor at midnight, when our dog needed to answer nature's call, so sometime between midnight and morning, our--no, God's--bottles took a trip.

I have to be honest, I was crushed, people had donated these to help those in need in Mexico. The money was going to those "little extras" to be blessing to those around us. You know what I mean, money for the extra little details that can creep in and add up. Now, approximately $100 worth of bottles were gone.

After the initial shock, I realized that someone had been in our backyard in the middle if the night (was our door locked? Was anything else missing? Oh how unnerving). That left me feeling a little insecure.

This happened minutes before going to church, and as we drove, I couldn't help but think of the verse in Joel where God restores what the locusts have stolen. Time and time again, scripture is filled with reminders of how God restores, provides and takes care of everything we need. Who was I to worry? The situation proved to be sad and disheartening, but not devastating. God is still in control.

I was reminded of the story Otto Konning tells of his pineapples in New Guinea. For years, he cared for and tended the pineapples, only to have them stolen by the natives before he could enjoy them. this caused serious contention, until he finally surrendered his pineapples to God. After that, he had more than he knew what to do with!

I realized that these pop bottles were already given to God. I have no ownership, I am just the in between person. So, if they already were dedicated to God's work, so who's to say that the person who took these didn't need them more? This sounds more like God's details, doesn't it? My prayer is that whoever took them and whatever money is gained will be used to bring glory to God, because it already belongs to Him.

In the meantime, we go back to collecting bottles (this time stored in our garage) and trusting that God will bring in all that needed to take care of the needs that God presents us in Mexico.