My boy Roscoe and I have been getting into Call of Duty. It’s like he’s reached that golden age of video games. I remember when I was 10 and yes, video games sent my mind flying. They were all consuming and the life force with in me. Too much? Ha!
But anyway — we’ve been playing a bit together. The other day, Roscoe wanted to get some “skins” or something. It’s basically upgrades to the game where you can play as different people, acquire new guns and all that sort of stuff. However, those upgrades come at a price.
I normally would never buy that sort of stuff, however, my parents were in town. So It’s basically like Christmas 2.0 when they show up.
They bought him the “skins” and battle pass and all seemed ok. That is until I saw a charge on my credit card. Then another charge and another charge and another charge … It was GOING OFF!
Come to find out, they not only accidentally used my credit card but so did someone else. Alert after alert came buzzing on my phone.
I had been hacked.
My credit card details stolen.
Heaps of fraudulent charges made on my account.
So, you know the drill. You have to sit on hold with the credit card company to issue a new card. Then — because the charges were deemed fraudulent, everything they purchased for Call of Duty was retracted and my Playstation account was banned.
We went from super Father, Son bonding moments — TO BANNED!
Let’s just say — I was painstakingly ANNOYED.
Plus, it was the morning of my anniversary when I found all of this out. I had just written some lovely words to my bride — then BAM! We were banned.
I thought about how annoyed I was for awhile. I felt bad for Roscoe that he had to experience some of MY annoyance. I wanted him to understand the lesson of — “we don’t need to buy more stuff” — but also wanted him to feel and be a kid.
It was during this whirlwind of emotion when I felt a little tap on my heart.
Just like Billy Madison, “tap, tap, tapparoo.”
It sounded and felt like this:
“What’s the worst that could happen? You may be out a few bucks? What if instead of it being a loss — you look at it like forgiveness — like GRACE in the situation? How many times have you messed up and I looked out for you? How many times were you having fun and I still took care of you? I’m bigger than this and you’re bigger than this. Do the good deed and look out for your kids like I look out for you.”
That was bascially the conversation I had in my head about it. It wasn’t long. It wasn’t some voice from the sky — it was a simple conversation.
And that’s exactly what I did. I wiped it up like it never happened.
And that my friend — is what God has done for me so many times. Countless times of me being an idiot — God came through for me. So many moments when I was worried and scared and it all worked out.
I’m here and I’m still alive and so are you. There’s a reason for that.
One more thing. Those worries and concerns you have, those are real. However, try writing them down on a piece of paper. Get clarity on WHAT those concerns really are.
Sometimes you can get solutions just by reviewing WHAT you are worried about.
- Discover what the WHY of the worry is.
- Find a solution.
- Realize the worry is out of your control — nothing you can do.
- Crumble up the paper and throw it in the trash — let God handle it.
God’s measureless grace will strengthen you.
