Be Sure Your Sins Will Find You Out!

There is a story in the Bible about an axe that floated. The user of the axe was very dismayed when the head of the axe flew off into the water. He said to his mentor, Elisha, the prophet, “Alas, master! For it was borrowed.” The man of God threw a stick into the water where the young man indicated the axe head had fallen, “and the iron did swim,” the scripture says in II Kings 6:6.

Well, I think I knew how the young man felt. Recently I asked my granddaughter if I could borrow a Shuttterfly album of pictures she had made of our family Thanksgiving gathering. I wanted to take it to a Bible study and show my friends pictures of our trip to Houston. She said, “Sure,” so I showed off the pictures and returned the album to its space in a drawer.

I wanted to borrow the album again to share with our son and family when we went to visit them in Kansas a few weeks later, but I kept forgetting to ask Allison about it. Then as we were walking out the door, I impulsively grabbed the album and took it along. I was sure she wouldn’t mind. Everyone enjoyed it thoroughly, especially those who had been there and whose pictures were in the booklet.

We had gone several miles toward home when I realized I had left the album! “Mark!” I spoke into the phone, leaving a message, “we accidentally left Allison’s book! Do you think you can send it?” A little later the phone rang with the news that he had found it.

“How far are you?” he asked, thinking we might be able to return for the forgotten item. When I answered that we were almost to the first interstate rest stop, he said he would mail it the very next day before he returned to his home in North Carolina. I eagerly watched the mail for the next few days, expecting it any day. By the third or fourth day, I was beginning to despair, because mail usually comes overnight from such a short distance.

How could I tell my granddaughter I had lost her pictures? Finally, after almost a week had passed, I saw the white mailer in the mailbox. But what’s this? It had been torn open! Had one of the family checked the mail and opened it? There was a book-size slit in the envelope edge, and the book could have easily slipped out. Thank God it was intact. I quickly replaced it in the drawer before Allison missed it.

That evening, my son uncharacteristically asked, “Anything interesting in the mail today?” He knows! I thought. He must have opened the mail! But I just gave a non-committal, no, and changed the subject.

A few days later, Mark stopped by for a visit. Greg took the album from the drawer and told the children, “Go show this to Uncle Mark.” Mark was examining the book when he said, “I think I’ve seen this before. Mimi brought this to Wichita and I mailed it back after she forgot it! I see it got here okay.”

“Allison didn’t even know it was gone,” I admitted sheepishly. She smiled quizzically and shrugged, while I breathed a sigh of relief. For “Alas, it was borrowed!” (And the only thing swimming was my head!)