An Undeserving Gift

Almost everyone I know owns a flat screen.  The T.V. posted above, is our T.V.  Now, as a disclaimer, I am SO thankful that Dan's parents gave us this television.  I am pretty sure Dan used this in college, and now we've used it the past 3 years and I am so thankful to have a T.V.  But, after getting our security deposit back and a nice tax return, I started "pressuring" Dan to look into getting a new T.V.  As another disclaimer: we don't even have cable and I'm not a movie buff (unless its Denzel :) - I wanted a new one purely for aesthetic reasons.  Dan and I talked about it and he finally gave in.  I was SO excited and ready to go out and get one right away.  We went to Best Buy and found a couple deals, but after talking it over (and Dan talking to his friend Brian haha) we decided to hold off.  We were in no rush so we wanted to keep looking.

Fast forward to that night.  I start doing my quiet time and praying about contentment and our debt... and conviction sets in.  We have a PERFECTLY fine working television.  Yes you have to hit the remote a couple times to get it to work- and yes the power button is broken so you actually have to stand up (gasp) and walk to the television and hit the power button on the actual T.V. to turn it on, but other than that- it works.  Buying a T.V. is not aligned with our goal of paying off debt. So, I tell Dan my thoughts and he agrees that we should wait to purchase a television and put that money toward our loans.  I thought I'd be sad but I actually felt very content with our decision and was looking forward to paying off our loans quicker with our added "bonus" money.

Fast forward to the night after that (is that confusing? haha it was Monday night).  Our friend Cam calls me and says he has to drop something off.  I tell him he can come over whenever, and when he gets there Dan goes down to let him in.  I'm in the middle of eating my pasta when Dan tells me to "go outside."  I'm a little confused, but I get up, open our door, and there stands Cam, with this:

Yep, Cam gave us his 42 inch flat screen T.V.  How ridiculous is that?  He didn't even know about our T.V. dilemma!  He just knew we were some friends who didn't have a flat screen T.V, and since he didn't have room for it right now he just gave it to us.  Honestly, the first thing that came to my mind was disbelief, but then this verse popped into my head: 

"If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!" Matt 7:11

Not only am I in awe of Cam and his generosity (because he is SO generous for giving away his own T.V. to us) but I'm so in awe of how great our God is.  This was totally a want.  God promises to supply our needs, but a flat screen T.V. is not a need- it's a want.  I have to admit I sometimes get nervous about the thought of possibly going into ministry.  I picture us in 10 years with 5 kids (if Dan gets his way haha) and living in an expensive city (like Chicago lol) on a $30,000 salary and really struggling to get by.  I know- it's ridiculous to even THINK those things, but I do.  Yet, God over and over again reminds me that He is going to take care of us abundantly more than we can even imagine.  I'm still in awe as I write this.  Want to know the best part of this situation?  It's that every time I look at our television, I am not only reminded of a friend's amazing generosity, but by how much our God loves us and wants to give us good gifts.



:)