…and the Lord takes away, but occasionally I am reminded that He gives far more than he takes.  Pictured here are a pair of $142 Oakley sunglasses.  I want to make sure you know that I have NEVER spent $142 on sunglasses.  Not saying that’s right or wrong, but I lose/break/go through sunglasses like most people eat — regularly and consistently.

So I usually buy sunglasses in Florida, at the flea market, while on vacation.  We didn’t go to Florida this year, but we went to Myrtle Beach and they happened to have a flea market.  So I bought a pair of $6 knock-off sunglasses — choppers.  They looked about as cool as a pair of six dollar sunglasses could look.  (I could’ve gotten 2 for $10 but neither of my sons would buy a pair — which highlights the low cool factor of the glasses.)

So there I was at the beach the next day, in the waves, with my sunglasses on.  The family told me to take my sunglasses off before a wave took them off.  But I didn’t listen — I told them that I would be fine.  I wouldn’t lose them so quickly.  Next thing I know I am being attacked by a giant wave with a surf all it’s own, a wave that had evil intentions upon my sunglasses.  I did a half somersault under the water and came up — that’s right — eyes naked to the sun.  Luckily the family didn’t notice and soon went up to the condo.

So… I decided to look for my glasses.  Yep I was looking for metal framed, six dollar sunglasses that were somewhere on the sand in 4 foot deep water stirred up by 4 foot waves.  Frankly I didn’t want my family to know that I had lost them after not listening.  So there I was walking in the water parallel with the shore back and forth, praying… “God if you want, you can put my foot right next to those six dollar glasses so that I can get them back.”   No sooner had I prayed than I looked down and there was a black pair of sunglasses floating waves, bobbing up and down, inviting me to pick them up and clothe my eyes.

I picked them up — Oakley’s.  I’m thinking cool $6 Oakley knock-offs, but I had an Oakley expert look at them — $142 real-deal Oakley’s.  So if you don’t see me with my Oakley’s, it’s either because I lost them, or Lynn won’t let me wear them.  By the way, after I found the Oakley’s, I searched another 20 minutes for the knock-offs.

Why do we do that?  God takes something away and gives us something infinitely better, and we keep looking for what we lost?