Acts of Honesty

We live in a fallen world where it seems like daily we are disappointed by others or we seem to disappoint them. But then there are days where seemingly simple acts just overwhelm us. We had two incidences in the past few weeks where simple honesty was evident.

The first is when we were in Arizona and we were on our way to the wedding when Deb realized she had left her camera and iPhone sitting on the bench outside the hotel. We were already 20 minutes away when she realized it so I went back. When I got to the hotel, the hotel receptionist said that the husband of one of the housekeepers had picked it up and turned it in. "Thank you sir whoever you are" (should have gotten his name).

The second is even more amazing. We got this voice mail a few days ago. The quality is not great but listen to this message.

The TSA agent, Chris O' Brien had found the billfold of a friend of mine with my card in it and called me. I had met with my friend for breakfast that day and I knew he was traveling to St. Louis so it was pretty easy to determine who it belonged to. It had a fair amount of money it and Ms. O'Brien went the extra mile to call me and then to make arrangements to send the billfold back to my friend. He has since told me he has received the billfold with a Money Order for the full amount of cash.

How easy it would have been to keep it or just turn it in. As someone who has bashed the TSA from time to time as an ineffective, bureaucratic organization, I was reminded by the Holy Spirit that people work there and people make the difference. Thank you Ms. O'Brien for your simple act of honesty!

The breath of God (Holy Spirit) lived out through people is how I term this. Now I don't know if Ms. O'Brien or the husband of the housekeeper knew the Lord. But I do know that honesty is one of the marks of a spirit-filled person. It is a mark of common grace. Common grace is exhibited in our world every day. I know I sometimes don't appreciate it like I should and these little reminders are so helpful that though we live in a fallen world, the breath of God is evident.