New Mercies

Spring Break started a little differently than we expected yesterday. Taylor and I worked out after school. After cleaning up the whole family sat around laughing. I'm not sure what triggered it but all the boys said or did something funny. We kept laughing until we decided to go grab a bite to eat.

Taylor drove us to Decatur to the restaurant. After dinner the boys wanted to go to Blockbuster. This is never fun for me. Over the past few years I have found less and less movies I am interested in watching. Most of the time, while they are getting movies, I sit in the car. What happened next is both comical and real life Edwards drama.

Taylor once again drove us to Blockbuster. After they had all gone into Blockbuster I decided to go in as well at the last minute. Big mistake! Typically I did not find anything that really grabbed my attention. I tried to find some classic movie section but did not find any. Bored I headed back out to the car. Here is where the drama began. I asked Taylor for the keys and he told me he left them in the car. Panic set in. I recalled locking the door when I exited the car.

Sure enough, the doors were locked when I pulled on the handle. It was around 6:30 p.m. and the temperature had dipped into the forties with a slight breeze. Brenda was still recovering from a virus the night before. Tanner had on shorts, a short sleeve tee shirt but no jacket. The other guys all had on warm clothing.

I tried to call a guy from the church who lives close to our house but did not get an answer. I called one of the other go to men in our church who lives ten minutes from our house. Mercy number one; he answered and was at home. I told him our dilemma and took a chance asking if he could go by our house to see if we happened to leave the door unlocked, the garage door open and find my keys. Mercy number 2; he was willing to help us.

I was not in a great frame of mind mad at myself for locking the doors while leaving the keys inside. Mercy number three; Brenda kept reassuring the whole ordeal would soon pass. It was nothing to get worked up over.  Turner and I played a game of rock soccer and he used his imagination to make up some other adventures. Tanner did not have warm clothing so I gave him my jacket and thanked God I had on a long tee shirt.

Our rescuer called with good news a few minutes later. Mercy number four; we left the garage door open. I vividly recalled being the last one to walk out the door back home and thinking I did not need to lock the door because we would put the garage door down. Taylor forgot to push the button on the sun visor when we left for the garage door. Mercy number five; the garage door was not only up but the door left unlocked. Mercy number six; I left my keys on the table in plain sight.

Within fifteen minutes our friend pulled into Blockbuster with my keys to let us into Brenda's suburban. We were all cold. Mercy number seven; heat in the vehicle. Crisis over. Mercy number eight; we did not have to call a locksmith and spend extra money.

From your perspective these mercies may not have seemed like a big deal. I assure you they were not lost on me. We could have walked back into Blockbuster to stay warm but opted to stay outside so Brenda could sit down. In the end this will make another great memory for the Edwards family. For me once again God reminded me His mercies are new every morning. I am grateful for a true friend, an open garage door and unlocked door. I am thankful for a long sleeve tee shirt, an understanding wife and warm clothing to share with Tanner. I am grateful for keys and heat. All evidences of His mercy.