Expect Surprises

We'd been to a church potluck with our trusty rice cooker, the one we got for our wedding nearly 25 years ago. That pot has made a lot of rice in its day! I can't even remember what concoction it cooked that Sunday three weeks ago, but we brought home the nearly empty rice cooker, stored the leftovers, and washed the pot. It was hours later that we realized we had arrived home without the cord.

I called Sam and Robin. Did you see an extra cord? Yes, it's on the counter at the church. OK, thanks. I'll go back this evening.

But we were tired. Rather than return to the church that evening to claim the cord, I waited till Wednesday. But when I got to the church there was no cord on the counters or in the drawers. I checked the Lost and Found. No cord.

Tom went later and hunted. He looked upstairs, downstairs, in the main building, wherever it could have been stowed. No cord.

After three or four searches we gave up. There simply was no stray rice cooker cord at the church. It had mysteriously vanished.

No problem, I said, I can find one at the thrift shop. But people don't turn in rice cooker cords to thrift stores. Telephone cords, computer cords, extension cords, more computer cords, more telephone cords...but not rice cooker cords. One day we will buy a new rice cooker, but right now a second hand cord is what fits our budget.

Last evening we drove our son back to his house. We pulled up in front of the garage, our headlights shining onto a few odds and ends on a table in the attached carport.  "Hey, look! A rice cooker!" Its cord was hanging down.

I whipped out my phone and called our son's caregiver. "What about that rice cooker in your carport? We've lost our cord. Is that one available?" Ellen said the rice cooker didn't work, and the cord might be attached to the pot, but it was headed to the recycle, and we were welcome to the cord if indeed it wasn't attached.

Voila! It detached and it fits. We'll be eating rice for dinner tonight!

It made me think about my mom's friend Hank (I think her real name was Henrietta). She and Mom were driving home from an outing one day and Hank was talking about her husband, Hugh. "He's always inviting people home for dinner, and I don't have much food on hand to serve them. And now he's invited some people for Sunday dinner and I don't have any potatoes for our meal."

Hank had hardly gotten the words out of her mouth when she said, "Stop the car!" Mom stopped. "What's the matter?" she asked. "There's a bag of potatoes on the side of the road. I need them for Sunday dinner!"

Keep your eyes open today. You never know where the Lord is going to hide a surprise for you!