SneakerBalls [Alternate Title: God's surprising form of manna]

Last week I wrote about manna, and the sometimes surprising adventure of trusting God to provide for our needs. I also wrote about winning a contest on one of our local TV stations.

This, my friends, is a follow-up to both of those posts.

My prizes came in the mail on Monday, and I'm sorry to say that I did not win any Cedar Point tickets. Bummer.

Mike had arrived home early on Monday so he called me at work to let me know my prize package had come, and opened it up while I was on the phone with him. His comment about not getting any Cedar Point tickets was, "Well, at least we got some SneakerBalls."

Excuse me?

Yes, dear friends, one of my prizes was this:

I had never heard of such a thing. And now I am the proud owner of a pair of peppermint scented SneakerBalls. You will be happy to know that my shoes will now smell of pepperminty freshness.

(I'm sure this knowledge will help you sleep a little better at night, as you were probably fretting and stewing over the condition of my shoes.)

In addition to the SneakerBalls, we received a t-shirt, some American Idol trinkets, several magnets, tickets to a baseball game (for our local minor league team), and about $50 in gift certificates. The gift certificates were the best part - there were about $25 worth of certificates to Taco Bell, KFC and McDonald's, and a $25 gift certificate for a local bison ranch.

Yep, you read that right. A company that raises bison (buffalo) and then sells the meat. We can use the gift certificate at their booth in the food court of the local farmer's market, or we can use it to buy some bison meat. We'll probably use it for a little of both. Bison is similar to beef, but is much lower in fat and calories. (Click here for more information.)

Last week I was a little miffed that my finances for the week did not go as planned, but as I wrote here, God reminded me that he's always provided for us. (In other words, "stop whining Erin!") :-)

A few days after that post, I remembered something Sara had written about, where you could get $25 for just signing up with a new online service. I decided to check it out, and guess what? I now have an extra $25 in my bank account. (Thanks, Sara!)

And then I won this silly contest on TV, and as a result, we have all of these coupons. In the past week I've received over $75 in free money/stuff. How's that for God's creative provision?

I also sat down last night to go over our finances and pay some bills, and things worked out differently than I thought they would. We somehow had a little extra, which allowed me to pay off the plumbing bill without dipping into our meager savings.

There have been many times in my life where I've wanted God to move in a big way. Sometimes he has, allowing me to see his awesome power and infinite creativity when it comes to arranging the details of my life. These big moves have often come unexpectedly, or they have come after being greatly disappointed because the big move didn't come when and how I wanted it to.

Most of the time, however, God moves in little ways. When he gave the Israelites manna in the wilderness, it wasn't necessarily a "WOW!" moment. The manna showed up in the morning, after the morning dew cleared away. It showed up over and over and over again, and after a while, I'm sure it was easy to take it for granted.

I can see how God's provision in my life is the same way. Paying the bills last night wasn't a huge "WOW!" moment, but it sure was a manna moment. A moment when God quietly stretched things a bit farther, and gave us a small, unexpected blessing.

Plus, I have peppermint SneakerBalls.

Who could ask for more?