Extra Change

     Has anyone ever been in a checkout line only to realize that what you are buying is going to cost like ummmm...$.10 and all you have to pay with is a debit card?  This happened to me tonight at Walgreens.  Worst case scenario, there's a minimum purchase requirement, leaving me without my grandmother's one 4X6 photograph.  Least worst scenario, I lose face because I don't have a ridiculously small amount of change.  Having the large self esteem that I have, I start to search frantically through my pocketbook for change.  It's amazing what one can find in the bottom of one's purse: earrings, safety pins, a Spiderman glove, blue candy ( what a waste), one quarter, a dime, and three pennies. That's right, 38 cents.
     Now, I'm starting to get real worried, certain the tax is going to put me over the edge.  Grandma ain't going to be happy.  Fingers crossed, I wait for the total....$.16.  Yes! I hit the weekday jackpot.  Today is the Tuesday "You only have to pay $.15 for a picture" Sale.  All I have to say is, "Happy Tuesday, Ya'll!" ....Oh, and I have 12 cents, covered in blue candy, jingling in the bottom of my pocketbook.

     I started thinking about this extra change business along the time when my always encouraging friend, Valerie, announced that she had been cancer free for eight years. At the time, I wasn't thinking of it as change, but as blessings. This is what I mean. Valerie was in her checkout line of life. Checkout lines are fairly stress free until we realize we don't have the means to pay for the debt that is about to be incurred. Some of us...ahem, like me...dig like crazy through our purses to find enough money to pay the debt. For her, the debt was breast cancer. For some of us, it may be a husband who has walked out, a sick child, abuse, mental illness....the list could go on and on. For me, it was the death of my eldest son. The panic that can ensue is universal. We've all been there.

    Then, my mind took me a little further into this scenario.  While we're in the back of the line acting like a lunatic, we've forgotten to look up and see who's in charge of the debt. Of course, it's Jesus. I suppose he probably looks at our pathetic coins and just smiles. I think he would say something like this, " I got this. I had it 2000 years ago on the cross. I had it before you even knew you had a debt. Oh, and here's a little extra change to put in your pocket."

    Yes! The extra change!  We always get the extra change.  Valerie survived cancer and got her extra change via four beautiful children.  I am surviving the loss of my son, and Christ has given me a little extra change. His name's Jack.  Did I mention that all five of these children are adopted? That's right. Valerie and I are not the only ones who got some extra change. 

    Is there always going to be some blue candy stuck to the change, those things that are sweet to our heart but can't be recovered in this lifetime? Yes. I would like to say that I always focus on the extra change, but some days, I see more of the blue candy.  I'm sure if I asked Valerie, she would say she has some blue candy, too.  But that change, it's always jingling in my pocket.  It's the sound of my Father calling to me. It's His reminder to me...I love you, I love you, I love you. And, no matter where I roam or how much blue candy I see, I can't get away from the sound of the change in my pocket.

So...Do you have any extra change?