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Saturday, October 22, 2011

The Key Factor

Occasionally I end my day with a migraine, but today that's how I greeted life.  With a sharp pounding all around my head, I went upstairs to say good-morning to my parents.  They were sitting around the kitchen table, where they informed me that I was sending out horrible emails in the middle of the night.
"What!!??"
Unbeknownst to me, a hacker had gotten into my hotmail account and emailed every one of my contacts.  I am so sad and disappointed.  Why?  Why do people do this?  I quickly tried to apologize to everyone, but my daily limit of sending emails had also been maxed out, so I couldn't say that I am extremely sorry for something I didn't do.  A huge knot began to settle in my stomach. 
As I was checking my emails, I even had one response that said "Karen, what is this?  You call this missions?"  Well, that just broke my heart.  NO!!  I would never intentionally send out rude or vulgar emails.  I am grateful for the few people who alerted me to this crazy situation, but upset that I couldn't stop it from happening. 
This evening I was reading a team-mate's blog post, describing how he lost his van keys while jogging, and it made me think back to when I lost a few important keys in Uganda.  Apparently there was a hole in my shorts pocket, and I lost the keys to my gate, house, garage, and post office box.  All very important, and I certainly didn't want any stranger to find them and break into my place.  I had walked over to a friends house, but while it was visiting it started pouring rain.  I ended up coming home in the dark, on the back of a motorcycle, and when I got to the gate, I realized the keys were gone.  Well, the knot in my stomach began then also.  I had to go and tell my team leader that I had lost some very important keys. 
The next morning, I got up early and tried to re-walk the path I had taken the evening before, in order to try and find those keys.  On my way back to the house, a neighbour spotted me on the road.  Denis said to me, "Karen, why such a long face?"  I told him that I was trying to find my lost keys.  He responded with "well, I have been without work for a year and a half and I don't look like I'm about to kill myself!"  And then it hit me... they are just keys.  Of course, they can be replaced, especially since they all belong to padlocks. 
I need to apply that same instant peace to today's situation.  It will all be remedied or forgiven (I hope).  The scenario is out of my hands and I will just have to release the knot and go on with life.

Psalm 34:19
19 A righteous man may have many troubles, but the LORD delivers him from them all.
Psalm 42:5-6
5 Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and 6 my God.
Psalm 9:9
9 The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble.

Week 4. We Pray for the Discovery Weekend
Day 6: October 22

Read: Jeremiah 32:38-40
"They will be my people, and I will be their God.  And I will give them one heart and one purpose: to worship me forever, for their own good and for the good of their descendants.  And I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never stop doing good for them.  I will put a desire in their hearts to worship me, and they will never leave me."

Today we pray for:
A God inspired VISION for the future!

3 comments:

  1. karen, really don't worry about the spam email. it happens to everyone! and someone who thinks you deliberately sent it obviously has not had experience with this. if that minor incident changes their overall opinion of you, then they are very impressionable...

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  2. I agree with what Alida said--how would anybody not recognize spam for what it is?

    With that said, I cannot recommend strongly enough that you switch to Gmail. The security is much, much better. It takes some time to get used to the way Gmail works, but it's exponentially better.

    Blessings,

    Lorraine from CRWM

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  3. Karen, Thanks for the explanation of that spam email. I never open anything that sounds generic, and an email with less than 50 words couldn't POSSIBLY be from you :) so I deleted without opening as I'm sure most people would. SPAM happens, but God is good. Praying all goes well for you today. Sandi

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