I remember as if was yesterday, when I got my new coat! My grandma bought it for me! It was grey suede with a fur collar and I thought it was beautiful. As a very excited second grader, I told everyone I had a “solid gold mink coat”. I was proud as I walked to school the next day, I just knew that everyone noticed my wonderful coat I even skipped along hoping that I would be more noticable. I had just begun my walk home from school when a little boy started chasing me home! Boy, that was fast I thought, already I have a boyfriend, and in my second grade mind I just knew he had noticed how nice I looked in my new coat and “liked“ me! I ran like the wind and was sure my new coat was not only beautiful but had made me run even faster. I made it home and couldn’t wait until the next day when maybe my new “boyfriend” would chase me again. As I made my way to school for the next few days, the same little boy chased me, I giggled at the thought of a boy really liking me, even though I didn‘t know his name or even exactly what he looked like since I was always running. On about the forth day I was ambushed from behind and knocked to the ground, the man of my dreams shrieked “never touch my bike again” and as I lay there he wiped his muddy shoe on my new “solid gold mink coat”. I was stunned to say the least! I can remember to this day the hurt I felt, and the way I felt so embarrassed and betrayed. I had done nothing wrong, never touched his bike or even knew where he lived! I was innocent of doing wrong! My beautiful coat would never be beautiful again with mud embedded into the soft suede, even the faux fur had lost it’s previously beautiful glow because of the ugliness of that day! I don’t remember if I told anyone or what was said about my dirty coat, but the sting of that day is still etched in my mind after all these years.
Have you ever felt ambushed, not knowing what you had done wrong? I think most of us have been. It’s as if you were just minding your own business when whammy here came that muddy foot that you were not expecting. In the bible there is a wonderful story of Joseph who also had a special coat!
Now Israel (Jacob) loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colors.
Genesis 37:3
Joseph was one of those people who was ambushed! Oh yeah he had teased his brothers and it was kind of fun to rub it in that he was his Father Jacob’s favorite. Jacob even gave him a special coat because he loved him so much which was a good indication that he had not read many parenting books. It was also fun telling his brothers of the dreams he had that seem to mean he would someday be the one that they bowed to. But not in a million years did he think his own flesh and blood would plot to kill him. But when they seen him coming toward them, they planned how to kill him. After taking his “coat of many colors” they threw him down a well while they decided what to do with him. They came to the conclusion not to kill him but to sell him as a slave to some traveling merchants. Joseph’s coat was dipped in blood and the brothers told Jacob that Joseph had been killed by wild animals.
From there, Joseph’s story reads like a novel in Genesis but through it all God was with Joseph! He seemed to succeed in all things against all difficulties and finally was in the place God wanted him to be. There was a famine in the land and Jacob sent the brothers to get food. There they came face to face with there little brother, who had been put in charge of the food supply they so desperately needed. At first the brothers did not recognize him but Joseph knew right away who they were the Bible says he went away and privately wept at seeing them. Eventually Joseph revealed himself to them and sent for Jacob and his brothers to come to live near him. When Jacob died his brothers were afraid Joseph would then kill them, so they threw themselves down at Joseph’s feet and asked for his forgiveness. I love his response.
Genesis 50:19-20
But Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done the saving of many lives.
God always has a plan for our lives even when we are brushing the mud off of our new coat, He is always there to turn it into good so that we can accomplish His plan in us.
Did I ever forgive the little boy for ruining my “solid gold fur coat”? Well, by my estimation this little boy is probably in his sixties and probably didn’t give another thought to me or my coat but I will say I’ll never go near his bike!
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