Strangely, three unique news stories with similar themes all appeared in the media this week. The first story was about a letter mailed back in 1954 that finally reached its destination just days ago. The second story was about a lost wallet that made its way back to its rightful owner after 62 years. The third story was about a man who finally returned an overdue library book he had checked out back in 1960.
The letter mailed in 1954 apparently had been misplaced by the U.S. Postal Service for more than five decades. It was finally rediscovered and delivered without explanation to the intended address, although the addressee himself has yet to be located. (I suppose he failed to leave a forwarding address!) Unbelievably, it took this letter more than half a century to make the short trek between two nearby Western Pennsylvania towns. Talk about snail mail! Gee, I hope it didn’t contain an important message, like a draft notice or a wedding proposal!
The wallet had been lost by a wounded, hospitalized American soldier in France during World War II. It was found shortly thereafter by another G.I., who apparently was unable to locate the wallet’s owner. So he brought the wallet back to the States and wound up putting it away for safekeeping. It remained tucked away for six decades. When the old veteran died recently, his son found the wallet while digging into his father’s possessions. Using the Internet, the son, in Illinois, was able to finally track down the original owner of the wallet, who was still alive and residing in Missouri. When the surprised veteran received his long lost wallet, it still contained his old photos, French francs, and other personal items from the day it was lost in 1944.
Back in 1960, a Michigan ninth-grader checked out a book for a school assignment. He never returned it. He said that his mother misplaced the copy of “Prince of Egypt” when cleaning the house. Through the years, the family came across it periodically, only to repeatedly set it aside and forget about it. He found it once again last week, this time finally returning it to the library with a check for $171.32, which represented 47 years worth of late fees. Interestingly, while the book was part of a youthful fascination he had with Egypt that later led him to visit that country as an adult, the tardy library patron admitted that he never did finish reading the book!
What are we to make of all this? Perhaps these stories should serve to remind us that it’s never too late to right a wrong, to correct a mistake, or to finish a task.
Is there something you need to complete that continues to hang over your head? Is there an unresolved problem you need to fix, a longstanding issue you need to address, a lingering misunderstanding you need to clear up, or an old sin you need to confess?
There’s no better time than the present. A lot of water may have gone under the bridge, for sure. And, yes, it would have been much better if you had dealt with the matter earlier, in a more timely fashion. But for your own peace of mind, and for the sake of God’s kingdom, you may well find that it’s still needful (as well as beneficial) to deal with the matter even now.
There’s an old adage that says “The point of departure is the point of return.” In other words, at whatever point we got off course and departed from God’s will, that’s where we need to go back and make things right with God and whomever else may have been adversely affected by our actions.
Think about it. If the postal service can finally deliver a letter more than 50 years late, and if a library patron can finally return an overdue book after 47 years—both of which certainly involved a measure of embarrassment—then perhaps you and I could actually right some wrongs and/or complete some unfinished goals from our past. Truly, it would have been much easier after all those years for the postal employees simply to destroy the old letter or for the man with the forgotten book to just throw it away. But the easiest route isn’t always the best route. Doing the right thing can sometimes involve some personal pain. But it’s worth it to be right with God.
Perhaps these unusual news stories are some good food for thought for us as we begin this new year. As we move forward into 2007, let’s be open to revisiting some old items from our past that really need to be corrected or completed this year.
Pastor Danny
