I have this awesome basement.
My husband and I have been working tirelessly to create a movie room, bar area (calm it down, it's crammed with soda and popcorn and possibly crystal meth) and a gamer/game area. It's a beautiful place where you can watch The Notebook, have a root beer float, and play Pac-Mac all at the same time. Talk about a glass case of emotions.
We finished this awesome project....with one exception.
I wanted a poker table.
Wait, what?
Kendra, are you a poker champion?
Well sure, I throw down them hands of clubs and hearts and stuff.
Heck no! I wanted a game table...for all games. Which I don't understand why, I'm overly competitive and usually end up attempting to murder the banker in every Monopoly game or somehow the cards and game pieces all end up on the floor....
So where do I go to find it? Well why not with all of the new murder stories and 48-Hours episodes focusing on on-line purchases turn to Craigslist?
Well my husband was nice enough to tag with me along on this journey, so we searched on-line for some poker tables.
The first guy was nice enough to not even WANT money for his poker table, just a few pictures of my feet! We decided to skip that one. Still, so nice!
Second guy posted a beautiful table for $400. Wow! He said he missed a zero, so oops! $4,000. That's sweet, but I have student loans.
The third gentlemen had a warehouse FILLED with tables. I didn't see many serial numbers on the equipment and he kept talking about his connections, told us we could get some flat-screens too for real cheap! WHAT A BLESSING! But that didn't work out. Thanks anyway, Al. My uncle Vinnie will help us out with flat screens some other time.
After church that morning we headed out! "Turn left there, he said, go past the vineyard." WHAT? Why are we at a vineyard? Why does this area look like the wealthy regions of Italy???? Oh here we go....past the cattle farm he said. "He said he kind of lived off the grid, sweetie. I'm sure we won't die. Just keep driving." Jeremey's knuckles were turning white and he kept mumbling something about Lifetime movies, but we pressed on, for we were on a mission. A mission of materialism.
"Ok, we go past this orchard, over this bridge, and then he said his house should be....HOLY SHNIKEYS BABE LOOK AT THIS MANSION." This house was huge! There was an inground pool overlooking a serene picturesque lake behind. Yeah, there was a boat, of course there was a boat. Why wouldn't MJ have a boat?
MJ met us at his garage area. He welcomed us in, and we were like children, staring at the wonder of the gorgeousness before us, trying not to gawk and definitely not asking who he was or who his father was or who he was married to or if he knows Obama or anything. I just assumed he had won the Powerball. He was seriously the nicest, most down-to-earth human, and that's when I knew it....MJ was going to take us to the basement and kill me and my husband.
"We'll take it!" The table was great, it was in our price range, and I wanted to buy something from this dude to have some lasting connection to Mr. MJ. (He ended up letting us live.) "Great! I'll help your husband put it in your car."
Well it didn't fit in the car. Jeremey and I attempted to Tetris the table into the backseat, it wasn't happening. What am I going to do? I can't disappoint my friend MJ. He let Jeremey and I remain alive.
"You can take my truck."
WHAT?!?!
"Here's the keys. Just bring it back when you're done."
This can't be right. This is a trick. Jeremey looked like it was a no-go...I could see where he was coming from. This was a stranger's car, we probably shouldn't be borrowing it without knowing anything about this---
"Sure! Thanks!" I grabbed the keys.
Jeremey looked right through me, basically to say, "Ain't no way I'm driving that, woman. You are."
That was fine, I'll drive. "Hey MJ, are you sure you are ok with strangers just taking your truck?"
He chuckled, "Kendra, I'm the chief district judge of southern Illinois, I don't think you'll be stealing from me."
:cue dry heaves:
I watched the blood flow directed to my husband's face stop, instead he became pale ghastly white and suddenly very sweaty.
"Yes, sir. Sure thing sir. We'll have it right back sir." Suddenly I didn't want to call him MJ.
And then we were off!
I mean it.
We were OFF.
My poor husband.
"Sweetie.....sweetie.....slow down. Slow dow---SLOW DOWN! That's a yellow light, aaaaaaaaaand now it's red aaaaaaaand you just ran through it. Babe seriously we're going to get pulled over by the police."
"NO WE ARE NOT BABE! Don't you get it?!?! What's gonna happen is they are gonna run the plates and be like, 'Oh heck no I ain't pulling this one over' SOOOOO we are INVINCIBLE, WOOHOOOOOOO!"
That was the greatest drive of my life.....and the worst drive of my husband's life. Hahaha!
I felt free. I felt awesome. I felt untouchable.
Now I didn't do anything too crazy, but because of who the truck belonged to, it changed my perception of my freedom on the road. I didn't necessarily feel reckless, but the fear of the law wasn't exactly, well....there. However Jeremey was a different story....now knowing who the truck belonged to, he wanted to protect it with everything he had in him and follow the laws anyway.
We got the truck back safe and sound, no worries, and now we have a lovely story of a date afternoon gone weird for Jeremey and I to tell people as we play on our game table.
Jeremey and I's perception of the truck ride after realizing whom the truck belonged to really made me think about our Christian life and our walk with Christ. Thinking I was invincible, I threw the law behind me and did what I wanted, assuming that because of whose truck I was in, no one would touch me. Jeremey respected the law, he didn't have to follow it, but he cared enough after realizing what we had and who it belonged to that this was a special opportunity and we shouldn't blow it.
That's a lot like Christians, huh? We realize Who we belong to and we either take it, pretend we're invincible, and believe that because we now belong to Christ nothing that we do is wrong and everything we do will be forgiven under the Creator of the law, or! We wise up, and knowing that we don't have to follow the law, respect the privilege of being in the presence of the One Who created it.
We take a lot for granted.
You're not invincible.
You're loved, though. :)
Drive on.
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