A Christmas Miracle, Part Two

First, I want to apologize for the rampant spelling errors in my last post. I was in a rush to get my story out of my head and onto the blog. I forgot to edit. I have taken care of that now.

So, where were we? Ah yes, the darkest moment of the day.

I reached into my pocket and found a few coins. It was just a little more than what I needed to buy a ticket to get on the bus. I really did not need a 90 minute ticket, but since I was still in "Blind Panic Mode" I bought one anyway.

I resigned myself to the fact that my wallet was gone forever; that I would have to tell Tonya that all of her stuff was gone, too. I would have to have someone take me to the authorities and get another open card to ride the bus (pricey).

So as I sat on the tram on the way back to school, I did one of the hardest things I have had to do here. I texted my wife that I had lost everything. I was not looking forward to having to look here in the eyes and retell the story of how I had no real idea where my wallet was. It could have been lost anywhere on the way to the apartment, or on the way back to school. I really had no idea. So I texted her this, "I lost my wallet somewhere!!!!!!" I waited for her reply. I expected a WHAT??? or an OH NO!!! or something along those lines. Instead, I got this response: A man called about it. That was probably the greatest text I had ever received.

When I got to school, there was a number on my desk. I called the man and he only spoke Czech. I could not understand anything he was saying. I was so afraid he would simply give up and throw my wallet away or something. To top it all off, I had to teach a class in less than five minutes. As I got upstairs, one of my students, who speaks wonderful English was standing in the hallway. I was breathless as I had just run up the stairs to get to the class on time.  I asked my student to call the man and ask about meeting to get my wallet. He worked out the details (when to meet, where the man lived) and I was on my way to recovering my wallet.

As class ended, I realized that I had to ride the bus/tram back to get my wallet. The only problem was that I had no more money to get a ticket, and the way things were going, there was no way I was going to risk getting on the bus without a ticket. I don't even know what happens if you cannot pay the fine for not having a ticket. I was so worried that with every passing moment I came closer to losing everything. I went into my office and looked in my desk for some change for the bus, but I had none. Then I remembered something. I had purchased a ninety minute ticket to come back to school. I looked at the time and I looked at my ticket. I had twenty minutes left.  I raced to the bus stop to get on the next tram or bus that came by. I got on and made it to my stop with one minute left on my ticket. I got off the bus and ran to the man's apartment.

I got to his place and buzzed in. He met me on the stairs and in his hands he held my wallet. He handed it to me and motioned for me to go through it. Everything was still there, even the money that was in it. I pulled out the money and offered it to him but he refused. He simply smiled and said "Have a nice day"in broken English. I thanked him in Czech and English, letting out a huge sigh of relief and a couple of hallelujahs on the way back to the bus stop.

When I got back to school, the head English teacher told me that I was very lucky and that that sort of thing does not usually happen here.

Now, maybe you are reading this and you are thinking that it was simply luck that brought my things back to me, but I would have to disagree. You see, I dropped my wallet when I ran for the bus. The area I dropped it is not very crowded. Any other stop, and it would have been lost forever. I bought a ninety minute ticket when I originally only needed a fifteen minute one at the time. That helped me get back to recover it.The student in the hallway that could make the call for me. None of that was random, in my opinion.  I think it was God that helped me find my wallet. He showed me through this that even in little things, He is BIG. It gave me an opportunity to share an incredible story with the people around me.

Maybe you ask, "If it was God, why did he even let you drop it in the first place?" That is a good question. I think it is because every now and then we need to be reminded that God is bigger than circumstances, that He is bigger than my problems, and that He is ultimately in control. It is when we are most out of control that we turn to Him. I turned to Him and He came through.

So I give you a small Christmas Miracle, if there is such a thing as a small miracle.