"It's a sin to ..... a pin"

In one of my favorite movies, "Amelie," there is a scene where the pixie-like lead character's love interest is being checked out by her coworker. What is the quickest way to assess if this stranger, who happens to work in a porn/adult toy store, is suitable boyfriend material for her friend? She tests his knowelege of proverbs. Not that I can remember them all, but suitable examples would be:

A bird in the hand . . . . is worth two in the bush.
Those who live in glass houses . . . shouldn't throw stones.
Better to be safe . . . . . . than sorry.
It's a sin to . . . . . . steal a pin.

The pin thing was the example that stuck in my mind, no pun intended.


When my kids were growing up it was important for me to set an example to them. If a clerk handed you too much change, you let them know and gave it back. If an item you ordered wasn't on your check, you let your waitress know. I never considered it smart or clever to get away with dimes, nickles, or cheese cake that was "free," but didn't belong to me. God knows, it comes out of someone's pocket.

Recently at my place of employment, money has been disappearing as quickly as shampoo bottles in carry on luggage. Not just small amounts but thousands of dollars. Cameras had to be installed, employees questioned by the police, mistrust and suspicion has become commonplace at my workplace. It was there that I had a little incident that brought this pin proverb home to me. While unsucessfully trying to get some unnecessary calories out of the snack machine, viola... a five dollar bill popped out at me.


Then... I had a choice to make. Be happy that I now had $5 that was someone else's misfortune to lose, or connect with the snack machine lady and let her know I had $5 that belonged to someone else. I hesitated for maybe a split second, but patterns of behavior usually win out. It did not belong to me. Days later when the enthusiastic, talkative, grateful, middle aged, evangelistic, Asian snack business lady had her money back in her hand she was barraging me with blessings.
"You know most people would not have done this, God bless you."
"It's so hard to find honest people these days. Thank you so much, Bless you."
"Most people just take, they don't care, God bless you."
"I had already paid the person back who lost their money in the machine, I figured there was no way I would get it back, may the Lord richly bless you." etc. etc.
Frankly, I covet God's blessings. Any blessings that God can send my way, via a sneeze or an act of honesty, I say "Bring it on God, health, wealth, wisdom, protection, peace. Whatever goodies you got, I want as much as I can get."

There is a Jewish story about a man who owns a dry cleaning business. He has a nephew who has just joined his work staff. The uncle deliberately places a nickel in a customer's pants pocket, to see what his nephew will do. His nephew brings him the nickel to ask him how he should return it to the customer. The uncle tells him that it was a test. The nephew was surprised, thought about his test and said, "Wouldn't it have been a better test if you had put in a ten or twenty dollar bill?" To which the uncle replied, "If I can trust you with a nickel, I can trust you with the business."


If you, or I, can be trusted with the little things, we prove ourselves to God and HE rewards us. Maybe access to thousands of dollars in cash & merchandise is God's test as to whether or not he can trust you with hundreds of thousands of dollars. God is not about to bless those who cleverly conceal their theft, but he will bless those who are honest and generous.


On my most recent trip back to Virginia Beach, I visited a friend of mine who was in jail for stealing. He stole items from people who loved & trusted him, because in his addiction, he did what addicts do. Are we so addicted to petty gain that we will sell out our integrity for anything from a nickel to name brand luxury items costing thousands? Now my friend sits in jail, paying a heavy price for something that many others are also guilty of, they just don't get caught, or they just don't know the people whom they steal from.

It is not the norm to care about honesty on the "pin" and "nickel" level. But it has worked for me. It could be the reason why my husband's laptop was recovered and returned to me, lost as it was, in the den of thieves where I work. It could also be the reason why on a cold, windy, drenching January night in New York City, the purse I left behind in an anonymous taxicab was returned to me within a few desparate minutes by an honest taxi driver. Karma or my New York City Miracle? It was a huge blessing.

Do you want the Lord to bless you? Then bless others by your honesty. Believe me, honesty in material matters is rare, and can be a source of blessing to many others when fleshed out. Remember to be an example of the kingdom of God in the real world and put into practice the proverb...
"It's a sin to steal a pin."

The Perfect Mother's Day

The Perfect Mother’s Day
2006


What does it take to make a certain day perfect? For Mother’s Day I suppose that it would be spending a relaxing, enjoyable time with one’s mother, or children, or grandchildren, with everyone healthy & happy, good food for all. Well, I wasn’t with my mom or offspring, but I had devised a plan. That plan was carried out to joy & perfection on every turn, thus a perfect day.

When I first bought my tickets to the P.O.D. concert at the House of Blues in Anaheim, I didn’t even notice that it was on Mother’s Day, May 14th. I only knew that it had been years since I had seen my favorite band, and I was willing to take the chance of buying an extra ticket in case I could find someone to go there with me. Going to a concert alone is definitely better than not going at all, but my California experience of constantly going to concerts by myself is a little old by now.


After a few invitations got thrown out, missed phone calls, and wrongly interpreted messages, it was a real joy to be joined for the day by a former Washington Square neighborhood kid turned congenial adult, Corey Conklin. It was like being the surrogate mom for the day. Meanwhile, back at the adolescent treatment center where I work, one of my girls there was waiting to here some good news from me. She is a P.O.D. fan, like me, and every year Mother’s Day is an annual reminder to her that she has no mother in her life, doesn’t know where her mom is, and doesn’t know if she will ever see her mom again.

My plan was to get a white t-shirt, hand decorate it P.O.D. style before the concert, then on concert day somehow get every band member to sign the shirt for her. From now on we could create a better memory for her, something of gain, not loss, something of joy, not sorrow. Also, I had not seen the band since Jason Truby of Living Sacrifice had joined them, and I wholeheartedly wanted to spend some extended time with him, to just talk and share, and catch up on the years apart.

Knowing how bands operate I knew that I had to get there early and be willing to stay late. I asked every praying person I knew to make my Mother’s Day wishes and plans to come true. I even wanted more than that, somehow I had to sneak my new video camera in, to give my girl a taste of the concert she was confined away from, and to get some members of the band to give her a personal message on film. Normally, breaking rules & regulations is not my thing, but feeling armed with a higher purpose for my "Mandy", locked up at the facility, it seemed like the right thing to do. I just got a big new purse, stuffed it with accessories, camouflaged the camera in a make up bag, luckily security looked, but did not see. Praise the Lord, one video camera successfully snuck into the House of Blues.

Before the concert even started I was able to contact Jason and give him my cell phone number, and requested some time from him, he seemed happy to oblige for later. While reading a book long before the concert started there was Sonny, the lead singer just hanging out in front of the House of Blues, a few feet away. I was not about to pass up one sure signature for "Mandy’s" shirt.




“Hey Sonny, Barbara Gelnett, from the Fire Escape in Virginia Beach. I served you guys dinner when you first went on tour there with Living Sacrifice, back in the day.”




Smile from him... “Oh yeah. Whacha doing now?”
“Working at a locked down psychiatric treatment facility for emotionally disturbed teenagers here in California.”
“Wow”
“I was wondering if you could do me a favor and sign this shirt for one of my kids, she’s a big fan and can’t be here.”
“Sure”
“Well I want you to know while you’re traveling around southern California if you guys want a home cooked meal, I can serve up some spinach Alfredo tortellini anytime.”
He laughs and hands me back my shirt & marker. The Sharpie I eventually give back to him due to the many autograph requests of others, standing behind me. He is so sweet and open and welcoming to the fans waiting for pictures and signatures. Sonny’s eyes sparkle and his dreads now go below his waist, arms adorned with full color tattoos. He eventually scoops up his little girl in his arms and walks away with his family.


Three bands before P.O.D. took the stage sometimes felt endless, but it was more than worth the almost four hours of standing on my feet planted in front of the sound booth, about four fans away from the mosh pit. They were great. There is such positive energy and joy, and music that moves my soul to spiritual quests, infusing it with a conqueror’s bold attitude. I love P.O.D.’s music. After the concert was over & I still hadn’t heard from Jason Truby yet, and Corey had left, I decided to not leave the premises until their tour bus pulled away. The later it got, the fewer security people were there to block access to the back of the club, and Praise the Lord, Jason & I made contact.


We shared for a long time. I was so anxious to tell him, and did, of how happy I was for him. When I was sitting at my computer in my den and read that P.O.D. had chosen Jason Truby to be their new guitarist, I had “the loudest Halleluiah party in my den that I’m surprised that the neighbor’s didn’t complain.” I told him how I knew that God saw his heart, and that he used his music to honor God and to serve him. It was never about being famous and having this world wide platform that he has now. It’s because he had been faithful to God that is why he brought him into this band. I shared how important that his words of rebuke were to me. When we stood on the stage at Cornerstone Music Festival after Living Sacrifice had just played for about 2,000 moshing, stage diving, crowd surfing fans, God moved in such a powerful way.
“I remember talking to you, saying, how cool it would have been for my sons to be here, in this atmosphere. I was worried about them. They enjoyed some hard Christian music, but they weren’t really serving the Lord or surrendered to Him. And you said “But you are still praying for them all the time, right?” and when I told you, that I got tired, and felt like quitting, and praying didn’t seem to make any difference. Boy you got right in my face, pointed your finger at me, telling me how I couldn’t quit, I must not quit. Don’t give any ground over to the enemy. When we let down that’s when Satan comes in and does his worst, don’t give up! You can’t give up!”
He remembered that. I said, “If you only knew how many times that message, your finger in my face has come back to me over the years to encourage me, to not let me quit. It has been an awesome memory that has never died.”

We shared about our family, his brother, former addict, now a missionary in Amsterdam. How we are all so needy, so messed up in our own way. How he could identify with what some of my students are going through because, he said, “I know what it is like to be beaten day after day, to have so much rage & anger you don’t know what to do with it. I’ve had all the labels put on me, like I know your kids (in the facility) have. It’s rough.” I invited him to visit our facility; he expressed a desire to do that someday, if he could. When referring to the life of concerts and being on the road, he said, “This is not real, this is not reality.” After he said that I saw clearly, the show is not what life is about. Relationships, integrity, choices, and loving your family may not have the flash and euphoria, but they are real life. Getting real life right is what counts, not the fame, the creations, the show.



One by one he called over the members of the band, Wuv & Traa, saying, “There’s someone here I want you to meet, Barbara Gelnett, from the Fire Escape in Virginia Beach.” They came over, we greeted, they signed "Mandy's" shirt. My wishes have come true, my prayers answered.



There was someone else waiting by the door of the club. His face looked familiar, and his name sounded familiar... Oz Fox. The lead guitarist of Stryper.




Talk about a blast from the past. I had a chance to tell Oz Fox how much my kids and I had been plugged in to their music, back in the day. How when I managed my club I never performed, but one night the people started chanting for me to sing something. So, with my rock n’ roll soul, and lullaby voice, I sang a Stryper song as softly & sweetly as I could. The crowd hushed, it was so cool. It was the only song that I have ever sung in public with a mike in my hand. After talking with him for awhile it became apparent how burdened he was by his recent divorce, being separated from his daughter, finances, and the difficulty in getting the band in motion again after cutting a new album. It was my privilege to pray with him. The blessings of the evening, now 1:30 am just kept rolling on. I hope to go to my first Stryper concert sometime in the near future.

Jason took a call from his wife; they both remembered sleeping on the air mattress on the Gelnett living room floor. Truby had thanks for the Gelnett kids giving up their space, food, and mom’s attention during those days. He was willing to get on camera and tell "Mandy" that he wished she could have made it to the concert on this Mother’s Day, reminding her that “God can be a mommy and a daddy to you...He’s all you need, and... He has big purpose for your life.” What precious fulfillment this night was.



The next day, after three and a half hours sleep, still high on the blessings from the previous night, I got to give my girl her gift. After receiving the shirt, and letting her watch the video, with flooding eyes she thanked me saying, “Ms. G. this is the nicest thing that anyone has ever done for me, ever.” I guess the perfect day includes putting time, love and effort into making sure that someone else gets their perfect day too!