Earrings and Plastic Tubs

It was easy the first time.  Our oldest daughter was very responsible with cleaning her ears, keeping her earrings in her ears, following directions.  Then the twins graduated from Kindergarten and they wanted their ears pierced.  Sure.  Why not?  It was easy. 

Within six months C had lost the back of one earring and E had lost one of her earrings.  E had no idea what happened to it.  It was gone.  We searched her bed, the bathroom (where they clean them), the van.  It was not to be found.  I was so disappointed that she had lost half of her first pair of earrings. 

Two or three months later we had friends moving to Nigeria as missionaries.  They were moving with five children and almost 30 - yes, thirty - pieces of luggage.  Folks were praying that they wouldn't lose their kids.  I was praying they wouldn't lose any luggage.  After all that luggage held most of their earthly possessions.  They had simplified to the bare minimum plus a few family keepsakes. 

They arrived safely in Nigeria.  Although they experienced a brief time of anxiety over some paperwork - their visas - they were there.  Minus three pieces of luggage.  After filing a lost baggage claim and waiting a few days, they were notified that their luggage had arrived.  Ryan went to claim it and took it back to the house.  Upon careful examination, he discovered that one of the pieces was not theirs.  (They had packed in plastic tubs which is common with folks traveling to Africa.)

The airline had no idea what had happened to their piece of luggage.  This was the piece that contained items the children had chosen to keep.  I was so sad for them.  I asked God, "Why don't you just send them back their tub!?  I know you can do it.  But will you?"  Just as I was talking to God - yes, I was doing the talking - He answered me.  H ran into the kitchen and said, "Mom!  Mom!  Look what I just found on the deck!"  It was E's earring that had been lost for two or three months.  It had been on the deck.  It had rained.  We had walked out there.  Dad had grilled out there.  And that very small earring had remained on that deck to be found at just that moment.  "Okay, God.  I hear You."

A few days later, that plastic tub ended up on a different airline in their hometown in NC - the hometown they left in October.  No one knows how it got there.  But it was there.  Only the airline wouldn't release it to be returned without the other airline "reopening" the baggage claim.  Well, the airports in Nigeria are not the most techonogically advanced to be found.  Think triplicates for baggage claim forms.  And they weren't even answering the phone. 

That's when I received the call.  Our friends called and said, "Will you help us?"  I was so ready to help them.  I wrote down all the info and as soon as we ended our call, I started calling.  But I was getting no where.  Then E came walking through and I saw the earrings.  And I remembered that God still knew what was happening.  Later that afternoon, the phone rang.  It was the airline in NC returning my call.  Sending the tub without an open baggage claim was not "normal procedure".  Yes, I knew that.  However, by the end of the call I had a tracking number.  The tub would leave NC the very next day to arrive three days later in Nigeria.

Once again, God smiled on me.  The tub arrived a day sooner than expected.  And when Ryan went to return the tub that wasn't theirs and claim their tub, all the contents were still in it!  That tub had flown from Vancouver, B.C. to Nigeria to North Carolina and back to Nigeria.  Count how many customs agents had access to it.  (African customs agents are not always the most honest folks you can find.)  And yet all their items were still in it. 

And so now when I see E's earring, I think of how much God cares about every detail of our lives.  Earrings, plastic tubs, parking spaces, friends for our children, jobs, everything.  I want to trust Him more and more each day.  Even for the "little things".