Somedays you just get blown away and caught off gaurd by the kindness and consideration of others and it only takes one to help regenerate your faith in the humanity of the human race.

Case and point is this wonderful seller, "linsco08". This wonderful human being sent me a two-pack game purchase for my PS2, and I got a hold of her a little frustrated due to the main game I wanted of the two not working.

Long story short, she went out of her way to make certain I got a working copy of the game, very likely putting her in the negative for this transaction. What grace and kindness. What love shown by my fellow human being. Thank you soooo much for your kindness.

Between this blessed person and the reverend aforementioned in a previous post, the several BAD transactions I have already had on this site (leaving me in the hole over 80 bucks easy at this point) are easier to forgive and release as just lessons learned.

God is soooo good.

Pieces of Eternity

Blog

Mon. May 27, 2008

You know, I actually love it when my humanity shows. It's more like a love/hate relationship really. Because it never fails that just when you start thinking that you got it down, you're in the "good guy" zone, trying to be the "good example", God sends someone along your path that just dwarfs your so-called good intentions!! And it stings when you find that someone has handled a situation better than you have. . . trick is, will you walk away from that situation a better person for it, and that all depends on your pride levels I guess.

Me, I'm not so prideful as I am damaged goods from past relationships and dealings, so I lack in the trust department and tend to just take everyone with a great assault until I know it's safe to trust them. Problem with this is that God says to have faith in Him to take care of things. My worrying and caution often shows my lack in faith not just the human race but also in God's ability to take care of me no matter what.

Luckily God knows my short-comings (help me, Lord, in my unbelief - in Jesus' name), so He sends me into situations like the latest transaction with a brother only known at the time to be "some student" due to his profile name. My thoughts is that it was some teenage college student trying to dump off unwanted stuff on ebay, so when I got the item in damaged condition I just naturally figured the worse . . . "some college kid passing off his damaged goods to some schmuck on ebay - well I'll show him I'm no shmuck", and I sent him a stern, not hateful - but judgemental and accusing, notice to take care of the problem immediately "or else". I recommended half payback because product was fixable on my end at a small fee on my part.

Well God had other plans for me, because what i got back from this brother was an unquestioned and very apologetic "FULL" refund with his blessings and a very kind positive mark on my feedback.

I was/am so humbled, for here i just took this guy for a crook and it turns out he wasn't aware of the product being damaged and never even questioned my integrity when he took it upon himself to give me a full refund with his apologies. Even when I told him it could be fixed and I offered him partial money back (less what I had to pay to fix it), he simply asked to accept the full refund with "Christ-style" blessings (that's sacrificial blessings for you non-christians). It brought tears to my eyes quite frankly, dear friends. All of a sudden this transaction wasn't about money and video games any longer (God cares nothing about those things), suddenly it was about forgiveness, trust, consideration, compassion and sacrifice.

WOW! Now that's a GOD Thing, brothers and sisters. My $8.25 just became a priceless moment of growth in my Faith Life - praise God.

Thank you, Reverend, for your Christ-inspired response to my not so Christ-like "knee-jerk" reaction to this transaction.

Oh, yeah - did I not mention that the seller was a Reverend - "a teacher of God's ways". Yeah, when God humbles you, He does so relentlessly. Had this been a regular joe, I would still have been humbled by his reaction, but the fact that I got caught with my pants down by a brother-in-faith being not-so-faithful will make this humble pie sting for some time.

And as a Christian trying to grow into a better man to serve the Lord "PROPERLY", these sort of spiritual spankings are priceless in our quest for true discipleship.

Hurts oh so good . . . in Jesus' name.

Question.

What "IS" the proper response to those who have wronged you? Is there any one correct way to react to an injustice served upon you?

I'm not here to answer that question. Perhaps I believe that answer is just so much bigger than I am. We're human and we have a tendency to over-react to pretty much everything. Just a bunch of "DRAMA Queens" in a land of perpetual chaos.

I guess the real question is, in a society that seems to breed and even encourage injustice, where does one find peace and solitude? Why, within ones self of course.

First we must find comfort in our own worth and values. There is a peace beyond understanding that occurs when you find solitude and refuge in the truth of your own moral behaviors and actions. And this resonates outward to others as you continue to do good things and spread good will. In this peace, we can find forgiveness for all sorts of wrongs that come into our lives.

Forgiveness IS peace.

More often than not, forgiveness is more for you than them.

How long have you carried the burden of a wrong committed to you by someone far removed or simply passed on.

If you still carry the burden, my friend you are still being victimized. You don't deserve that. You deserve peace.

Forgive them, in spite of themselves.

Even if Elvis has left the building, whisper out in forgiveness and free yourself from the burden they imprisoned you with.

I Forgive you. I wish you nothing but joy and happiness.

Have a blessed day, in Jesus' name.

Love C'wick 

Integrity. Is it really so difficult to keep one's integrity. No. But sometimes it includes you having to be the one to make the sacrifice, but it is my profound belief that good decisions that include sacrifice and serving others brings in more reward than disdain!

I had to make a hard decision recently to ride off a purchase without harming the integrity of another human being (and/or organization).

My first purchase on Ebay recently had been looong after my last one at an old address. I didn't even consider changing my Ebay stats because I used paypal for the first time and they took all my recent information, so I justy considered I was covered and went about my business.

A few days later, I made another purchase and that was when it hit me that the address being sent to these sellers was in fact an old address. I panicked and contacted both sellers, urgently telling them to ship to the paypal address, not the Ebay one. Then I went in and updated everything and breathed an uneasy sigh of relief (they were both from Hong Kong and I was concerned they wouldn't understand my correspondence).

Later that day, the second seller contacted me back and said that since I used Paypal, she shipped to that address. I was overjoyed and felt very fortunate that this seller had used her head and figured out where to send the package. I was not, however, so fortunate with the first seller. He had jumped the gun and shipped it to the old address.

At first I was angry with myself, but as I did some research and realised how Paypal worked, I started doubting the integrity of that first seller, for even though Ebay would have contacted them first with the old address, no seller ships until they have confirmation of payment at which time Paypal would have already contacted that seller twice - once with confirmation of sale, my new address and contact info clearly stated within that sales receipt, then a second time with confirmation of the payment, again - all my contact info clearly visible for him to ship to me and to communicate with me. Now if I were a seller with two addresses, would I not contact the buyer and make sure which is the correct address to send to.

The seller did not do so and only responded when I contacted him with the urgent message. Moreover, I left information with the post office and the people at my old address and as far as I am concerned, the package never arrived. It is my belief that this seller took advantage of a situation and now to get my product, I will have to send them more money.

Inevitably, whether the seller is being malicious or not, the mistake was mine first. So I choose to not red flag this seller and ride off the purchase. I believe it is the right thing to do. Besides, not that it will have much impact on the seller's life, but I am a repeat buyer and I will never shop this seller again. Besides, another seller gets blessed because I reordered the item through them instead. Let's hope this one goes better. ;^)=)

The challenge continues, for as of right now, another purchase has gone sour, for I got a battery that won't hold a charge. I just contacted the seller and kindly asked for them to right the wrong. Let's pray for good results.

May you all have a blessed day in Jesus' name.

-C'wick  :^)