Christian Living

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Missed Opportunity II
© 2011

by

Stephen A. Peterson


Army Sergeant Louise Francis had returned from military duty in Iraq. Before her return home to Oklahoma she made a brief stop at Pittsburgh International Airport. Thirsty she deposited $2.50 in a soft drink machine that accepted her money but produced no soft drink. After a few bangs to the machine, Sergeant Francis wrote a complaint letter to the vending machine company listed on the front of the machine demanding the full amount she lost be returned as well as the forty-four cents for the stamp on the envelop.

Three, six, a year later Sergeant Francis had not heard from the vending machine company about her refund. Every time she saw that address on her refrigerator door she became angrier and angrier. What made her angry were the thoughts of being ignored, taken advantage of and being belittled...even for $2.50.

Nearly a year and half after the incident, Sergeant Francis was reorganizing the notes, notices and bills on her refrigerator door. In the middle of all that paper, there it was the address of the vending machine company and the amount owed. The same angry feelings for that company resurfaced. After roughly twenty minutes, Sergeant Francis did something different. She said a prayer asking that her anger removed. She then snatched the note from the refrigerator, tore it up then threw it into the garbage disposal to be carried away. With her actions, all of the anger that had gone on for nearly two years, melted away.

Sergeant Francis then began to question herself: “Why did I keep that vending machine’s address for nearly two years? Why did I put so much time and energy being angry at a dumb pop machine for two and a half bucks?” She recognized that the moment she destroyed that address note that she had turned the issue over to God who appropriately dealt with the issue!

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