F.R.O.G.

 

F.R.O.G. – is a mnemonic device that I was taught years ago in Sunday School.  It stands for - First Rely On God, and today I got a little reminder…

While I am on vacation I am trying to exercise daily, and this morning I went on a bike ride, using one of the “beach cruisers” we’d rented.  However, rather than riding on the beach, I decided I’d take the bike paths.  For my journey I took my room key, my phone, and the second-hand earbuds my son, Max, recently gave me after I lost a pair of my own.

As I began my ride though, I quickly decided that since the earbuds were NOISE CANCELING, that might not make them safe for riding trails shared by other bikers, so I decided to leave them in their case and in the bike basket.

After traveling about 4.5 miles in one direction, I decided to head back toward our resort.  I took a couple of scenic detours on paths that led me through neighborhoods and parks.  Then, when I got about a mile from the resort, I looked into the basket and noticed my new-to-me earbuds were gone!

My first thought was, “That’s $170 I’ll never get back!”

My second thought was, “Max is going to kill me!”

My third thought was, “Wait…since my phone “sees” the earbuds as mine each time they connect via Bluetooth, could I use the “FIND MY” feature on my phone to find them?  I quickly stopped the bike and checked my phone, and low and behold saw the earbuds were about 1.5 miles away from my location, back the way I had just come from.

So, I turned the bike around again, and headed toward the earbuds on the map.  As I rode, I kept watching for them to move (indicating someone had them), but they stayed stationary.  When I finally got to where they were, it showed them to be in a neighborhood I had not ridden into, at a house I had not been near. 

Now, this house was a big one, about a block from the ocean.  There were four cars in the driveway.  Nearby, builders were quickly working to erect other homes around it.

I followed the tracker, mounted the stairs, and rang the doorbell.  It was about 7:58 am. 

A woman came to the door in a housedress.  I showed her my phone and told her that I believed someone in the house may have found my earbuds, and that I was there to collect them.  She told me that she was the only one awake and that she’d been cooking so she hadn’t been out.  She told me I must be mistaken.  Again, I showed her my phone which CLEARLY showed that my ear buds were in the house.  I asked her if maybe someone could have gone out without her knowing.  She said “no”.  I asked if the place was a duplex, she said, “no.”  She told me she was sorry, and then she shut the door.

I left feeling certain that someone in that house HAD MY EARBUDS!, and I wondered aloud why God would let something like that happen.  I told Him that I was mad, and I wished that I had them.  And then I said a “thank you” for giving me the ability to ride my bike.

Since I was there, I decided to retrace my path in the nearby area in which I HAD ridden.  And about 500 yards from the house where my phone showed my earbuds to be, I saw an earbud case lying on the path.

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Now, today’s technology is getting better and better at an increasingly speedy rate, however, technology is not infallible.  God is.  And I think that is what He was trying to tell me. 

Psalm 37:23-24 says “The Lord makes firm the steps of the one who delights in him; though he may stumble, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with his hand."

And Philippians 4:6-7 says, “Do not be anxious about anything but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be know to God.  And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

Above all, our faith and trust should be in the Lord and we should First Rely On God!