Paid in Full: Signed, Sealed and Delivered

"I bought something to send to Maddie to make up for when she got her feelings hurt," I said to son Jamie. The five-year-old had been upset when her sister got a birthday present in the mail and there was nothing for her.

"It's a calendar to mark off days till Christmas," I told him. "There's a piece of candy behind each tab," I explained, to which their father asked warily, "Did you get one for Anne-Marie, too?"

Okay, so a trip to the store to get one for the other competitive little Miss! Well, of course! She would like to mark off the days, too, I realized.

The roof slant on the house-shaped novelty would make it be hard to put in a square box for mailing, I mused later. I definitely wanted it to be in a strong package, since the last semi-fragile item I sent arrived in two pieces! The lightweight box and chocolate figurines in a flimsy plastic tray might not hold up to postal tossing and stacking.

A pizza box! It looked like it would fit in a pizza box. We got one, but the pointed roof didn't fit. Then I saw a HUGE mailing envelope at Walmart, but it was just a tad too small! We managed to get it wrapped by padding the roof with the mailing envelope, modifying the pizza box, and encasing the whole thing in brown paper and mailing tape.

A few days ago I answered a knock at the door to a woman and a couple of boys shivering on my screened porch. "We are selling popcorn for the Boy Scouts," the mom said. (Maybe she said 'delivering.') I asked how much, and she replied, "$15.00."

"Ooh! No, thank you!" I said.

Last night our son Greg called from where he is working out of state. "Mom, I had ordered some popcorn from the Boy Scouts, and my friend called and said you refused to pay!" Say what? "I told her my folks would pay for it, as I was going out of town," he laughed. I found some money he had left, so the next night I received the popcorn! Provision had been made to pay for the popcorn, but I didn't know it!

I thought of how Jesus has paid our debt, even before we knew about Him. Like the passenger on a ship who managed to get a ticket to cross the ocean. He scrimped and saved to afford crackers and cheese to eat, until one day it was called to his attention that his ticket had included meals!

My little granddaughters know how to press in! They will not be denied anything they think is rightfully theirs (at this stage, anyway). Jesus gives the example of the friend coming at midnight to borrow three loaves of bread (Luke 11:5-8). He says the loaves were given because of the friend's persistence.

"And I say unto you, Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you." Luke 11:9.