What to give your father-in-law for Christmas

My son's father-in-law, Ed, is a die hard Washington State Cougar fan. Both my son and his wife attended WSU (I don't think my son's father-in-law would have let him marry his daughter, if he hadn't gone to WSU, so it's a good thing since my daughter-in-law is wonderful!)

Several years ago, Ed had a special, one of a kind, hand made, WSU rain poncho that he loved to wear to the games. He always got asked by people how they could get one like it. It had wonderful pockets, it was big enough to keep out the rain and to wear a warm jacket underneath. He loved that poncho. Sadly, one day it got left in a rental car and was never seen again. (Even after calling the company several times and doing everything he could to find it.)

Fast forward about 3 years. My son is working for a company and a fairly new guy sees the WSU memorabilia on his desk and asks him if he would like an old WSU poncho he had. He had gone to Montana State but he used to work for a rental car company and he been given this old WSU poncho that had been found and he never knew what to do with it. He had moved it with him through many moves and had thought about throwing it out, but he never did. My son said sure, he would take it off his hands and thought "Here's a great (read cheap) Christmas gift to give my father-in-law".

Fast forward to Christmas Eve. My son and his wife walk into his in-law's house and he is carrying this nylon bag with the poncho inside. Ed, my son's father-in-law, jumps up and says "That's mine". He grabs the bag out of my son's hands and opens it up. He pulls out the poncho and just breaks out laughing and smiling. It was his poncho! (He says he knew it was his old poncho because he recognized the nylon bag which was missing a draw string.) My son is now his favorite son-in-law. Ok, he is his only son-in-law, but that's not the point.

Even when we don't know God is at work, he is. Sometimes, we spend our time questioning why the poncho had to disappear for 3 years, or why it had to get lost at all, instead of just resting in the knowledge that God is at work and he is in control. He knew where that poncho was all along. Maybe he just wanted to boost my son's standing with his father-in-law. Maybe God just wanted to see the joy on Ed's face. I don't know. I do know that reminding ourselves that God is at work, even when we don't see anything happening, is a wonderful anteater.

Bonus Anteater - God is even more delighted when he sees us, than Ed was when he saw his old poncho. God delights in us. He sees us and sees his image in us and says "You are mine".