Last night was a very long, and very hot night at the White House (yes, I call our house the White House as its our house, and we’re the Whites). You see, yesterday when we got home from church and after some Mexican lunch with great friends of ours, we came home to a house that was 79 degrees when it should have been 73. The air conditioner was running, but no air was coming out of the vents and it was getting warm quick.
To make a long story short, after a few phone calls, and a visit by one of the guys who works with me, I found out that the fan motor on my air conditioning unit had given up the ghost. There was not a chance that the motor could be replaced at 8PM on a Sunday night. A replacement motor would have to be picked up in the morning.
Knowing that we were facing a very warm and uncomfortable night, I asked Steph to go to her parents and I would sleep downstairs in my office which has a separate air conditioner. She was almost too quick to take me up on the offer.
To say that last night was probably the worst night of sleep that I have had in my life would be an understatement. If it wasn’t the loud portable AC unit that I have keeping me awake, it was the dog moving around or it was still too warm to be comfortable, or it was the air mattress having a leak and sleeping on a hard floor, or it was trying to sleep sitting up in an office chair. Yep, last night was incredibly AWFUL.
The good news is that the parts are already on the tech’s truck and he is coming by on his way home to fix the AC unit.
It got me to thinking how I took cool air and comfort for granted. I just always naturally assume that when we get home, the house is going to be cool because the AC just works. Sure I do the regular maintenance to it so it should, just work. After all, it has worked for over 6 years without many problems so why not just keep assuming it would be working when we got home yesterday.
Most of us take a lot of things for granted in life. Sure some of YOU exercise and eat right. Some of us watch what we do and eat maybe not as well as we should be we all just think we are going to wake up tomorrow and the heart is going to keep on beating.
Not always true. Last week, I found out that a guy that I went to school with, just 3 years older than me, had a stroke at the end of June and passed away just a few days ago. Just three years older than me and had a stroke. Guys my age are not supposed to have strokes. We are in the prime of our life. We are 10 feet tall and bullet proof. We take our health for granted.
I have a job. Granted its not the job I want anymore and its not where I feel that God is leading Steph and I, but it is a job. I have a job when a lot of others don’t. I take this job for granted because I have been here so long and feel secure in my position.
We have a new tech. He is a great guy. He is very friendly and works harder than just about all of our other techs put together. He appreciates his job a lot more than I do, but makes a lot less. You see, he has a history so getting jobs hasn’t been as easy for him as it has for me in the past. He appreciates his job where I take mine for granted.
I have a great family and an incredible wife. Living 2 hours away I don’t get to see them as much as I would like so I am grateful for the time that I have with them. Steph I see every day and one of my greatest fears is that I take her for granted. I just know without a doubt, she will be there.
I also take for granted what Christ did for me. A song that I heard a long time ago said that “When He was on the cross, I was on His mind” I cannot begin to imagine the pain and agony that Jesus went through on the cross. It was one of the most brutal ways to die in history and He did that for me….for you…..for the person sitting next to you or in the next room….even if they reject Him, He still died for them….for me. Nothing that I could ever do in my life can repay the debt that He paid for me and my sins.
Only through the unattainable favor, God’s grace, am I able to be called a child of God.
What are you taking for granted in your life today?
Dear God,
Thank You so much for the little things in our life that make our lives so much easier. Things like air conditioning, things like comfortable beds, like running water. Thank you (here is the geek coming out in me) for wireless internet and online banking. Thank you for a very loving and caring wife who supports me whole heartedly. Thank you for my family and friends and for the ministry path that you have Steph and I on. Help us to never take your blessings and gifts for granted.
Keith
KWHITE75 