I tipped a waitress $500.00 last week. I didn’t mean to, but I did. Yes, she was a very good waitress, and I was impressed when I saw her sit at the table of the elderly woman who was eating alone and chat for a few minutes. But I can’t afford $500 tips.
Here’s how it happened. I used the restaurant app to pay the bill with my phone. When I added the tip, I punched in the numbers 5 0 0, expecting the app to add the decimal. Instead, it thanked me for my payment of $526.00, Whoops! I quickly decided to cancel my transaction, but the app doesn’t have a button for that.
Oh, well, I could certainly go to the check-out counter for help. When I told the teenager at the register what I had done, her eyes grew big. I think she was wishing that she had waited my table. She said she was sorry, but there was nothing she could do.
I still had one more strategy. I would call the credit card company and have them cancel the transaction. I found the voice on the phone to be sympathetic but not helpful. Nothing could be done for at least three days, and the truth was, I couldn’t completely dispute the charge. I did owe the restaurant some money. What else could I do?
When I hung up the phone, the girl at the register asked if I wanted to speak to the manager. At that point, I really did want to meet her. What no one else had been able to do, the manager could. She quickly gave me a refund and erased my mistake. Then she gave me her card and told me to call if I had any more trouble.
I learned that when you make an error, you need to go to the right person to get it removed. I couldn’t fix it, the girl at the register couldn’t fix it, the voice on the phone couldn’t fix it, but the manager could.
Where do you go with your mistakes? Who can take what you have wrecked and make it whole again? I know where to go, and so do you. Only God can cleanse, forgive, and make our messes go away, but we would rather do it on our own. We look for some other strategy—anything but turning to God, but there is no other way.
David says it well in Psalm 32. First, he tried not going to God and he said the result was that his bones wasted away, and his strength was sapped. Then he decided to change strategy.
Then I acknowledged my sin to you
and did not cover up my iniquity.
I said, “I will confess
my transgressions to the Lord.”
And you forgave
the guilt of my sin.
(Psalm 32:5)
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