Wednesday, February 18, 2009

I've Been Ripped Off and Someone's Going to Pay - Apples of Gold - February 18, 2009 -vi-

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Apples of Gold
 

Radio Script for February 18, 2009

“I’ve Been Ripped Off and Someone’s Going to Pay”

 

Hello, I’m Doug Apple…with Apples of Gold.

Last week someone stole my wife’s purse.

They broke out our van window right there in broad daylight.

Other than paying $242 for a new window, it didn’t seem so bad.  They got her driver’s license, but she didn’t carry her Social Security card.  There was no cash in her purse.  We immediately called and cancelled any bank cards and credit cards and stopped payment on the blank checks.

Problem solved, right?

Wrong.

The thieves tried to cash a huge check anyway, which bounced and the bank charged us for it. 

Then they tried to cash three big checks in my wife’s name, and guess what?  Somehow they were able to drain our savings account, which had nothing to do with the checking account.  And there was nothing in my wife’s purse about the savings account anyway.

Yes, there’s a big fraud going on somewhere and we’re still trying to get to the bottom of it.  Both police and bank investigators are involved, and we have been told that we will get all of our money back…eventually.

The last time I left the bank I told the woman, “Call me when you know something…so I can stop fuming.”

Now I know this isn’t a super-spiritual reaction, but here’s what I feel like.  I’ve been ripped off and someone’s going to pay.

And it’s not even that bad of a rip-off.  Pretty good odds we will get our money back and life will go on.  But still...if I could get my hands on the guy who broke into my van…

But now listen.  That river of anger quickly overflows its banks.  Instead of being pinpointed on the thief, it spills over onto others. 

Now watch this.  Listen.  Guess what question some people have asked me?  About the thief they ask, “What color was he?”

I say, “That has nothing to do with it.” 

You see how quickly anger can become generalized and flow over to innocent people?  No matter what the skin color was of the thief, there is a temptation to take it out on everyone else of that skin color, which is ridiculous.

But I understand it, because when you’ve been ripped off, someone has to pay.  Someone has to become the target of your bitterness.

I spoke to a bank employee this morning.  I had to keep reminding myself to be nice because he was not the cause of my problem.  But I wanted to unleash on him and everyone else at the bank. 

I’ve been ripped off and someone’s going to pay.

That is our human nature, but thank God I have the Holy Spirit within me to guide me and keep my human nature from running amok.

But let me tell you, I can sure relate to anyone who feels ripped off today.

Some people feel ripped off by life in general, so they are making all of society pay.

Some people feel ripped off by their parents, so they are making their parents pay, and anyone who reminds them of their parents.

Some people feel ripped off by their church, so they are making all churches pay, and maybe even all Christians.

Some people feel ripped off by being raised poor, so they are making anyone pay who isn’t poor.

Some people feel ripped off by their employer, so they make them pay by stealing or even by sabotaging product.

Now listen to this.  Some people feel ripped off in their marriage.  They feel cheated in the spouse they are stuck with, and someone’s got to pay.  They justify an affair.  They justify doing their own thing.  They justify leaving entirely because they feel ripped off.

But you know what?  All of this can be remedied by putting our faith in God.

Abraham could have felt ripped off when he went so many years without a son.  But Hebrews 11 says he continued to believe that God was faithful.

Joseph could have felt ripped off when he ended up in prison for something he didn’t do.  But instead of wallowing in bitterness, he maintained his faith in God.

David could have felt ripped off when he had King Saul trying to kill him for no good reason.  David went through many dark valleys, yet this is the same David who wrote Psalm 36:5, “Your love, O Lord, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies.”

Paul suffered much at the hands of men after becoming a Christian, but he didn’t let that ripped off feeling poison him.  In Second Thessalonians 3 he wrote, “…pray that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men, for not everyone has faith…but the Lord is faithful…”

This same Paul wrote in First Corinthians 10:13, “…God is faithful…”

You know what?  Everyone gets that ripped off feeling.  The question is, what do we do with it?

Yes, strive for justice and work to right the wrongs.  But watch out for the poison of feeling ripped off.  It will quickly overtake you and spill onto everyone else.  Anger turns to bitterness, then hate.  We end up hating people when we are called to love them.

So how on earth can we love people when we feel ripped off? 

I think the key is trusting in the Lord.  Like one guy I know said, “Trust the Lord, even when it don’t make sense.”

So that’s my advice to myself today.  It’s going to be alright.  No matter what happens, I will trust in the Lord to look out for me.  And that allows me to let go of that ripped off feeling.  I can let it go, and breath in the Lord’s peace instead.

Yes, now I can get rid of the chip on my shoulder that says someone has to pay.

Instead I can walk in peace and love, knowing that the Lord is faithful, and I can put all my trust in Him.


Comments?

E-mail me:  dougapple@wave94.com.

May God bless you today!  With Apples of Gold…I’m Doug Apple.


P.S.  New update.  In the time it took me to write this the bank passed through another $2,000 check and took it out of our savings account.  Our savings account is now almost $2,000 in the RED!  I didn’t even know a savings account could go in the red. 

© 2009 The Arrow’s Tip
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(Proverbs 25:11 – “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.”)

Why “The Arrow’s Tip”?  Each morning, after diligently seeking the Lord, I write Apples of Gold.  Then before I release it to the public I pray one final prayer, “Lord, send forth your arrows.”  I envision Apples of Gold as arrows, tips dipped in the river of the water of life that flows from the throne of God (Rev. 22:1), sailing toward the hearts and minds of men and women around the world.

Doug Apple
General Manager - Wave 94
Christian Radio for
Tallahassee
PO Box 4105
Tallahassee, FL  32315
(850) 926-8000

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