Game Table

For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer; ~ 1 Peter 3:12a

Today I am thankful redemption. I speak not of the renewing power of God's shed blood, although that really is what allows me to take my next breath. I am not referring to any kind of a score evening out, or a contest that was eventually won. My story of redemption today includes a very heavy and awkward table that now graces our living room.

It was almost one year ago. Large, awkward, rectangular shape . . . and did I mention large? It sat in the middle of our family room, just waiting to be born. Hundreds of tiny little pieces all put together meant one thing. An enormous game table that the kids had gotten for Christmas. Foosball, pool, ping-pong, checkers, chess . . . some kind of a football thing, and that was just the beginning. The thing stood approximately three and a half feet high, about one hundred inches wide and three hundred long. (My exaggeration of course.)

The table had been up for a week or so, being enjoyed by all - all that is, except for me. It looked like an eyesore, even tucked back behind one of the couches, I felt annoyed by this clumsy thing. There was nothing about the way it screamed "fun" that went with anything in our house. A separate game room - now this would be a fitting home. But we opted not to add the sixth bedroom (we didn't even have that option anyway), which meant that this new orphan of a game would be settling down where our family did most of it's living - in the family room.

One afternoon, while feeling quite frustrated, I tried to move the beast over a little bit. The thing must have weighed 100 pounds. Made mostly out of particle board and plastic, I managed to practically break the thing in two - leaving the table unrecognizable, and my husband pretty annoyed.

We found a phone number on the box and we called, and we called. One day after another we tried to reach somebody from game table land. Finally, we were able to connect. I explained what happened and they assured me that the parts would be sent immediately.

Weeks, no months went by. Nothing. I wasn't really complaining, I mean aside from feeling about two inches tall for ruining the family's fun, I was pretty happy to have the mess out in the garage. Actually, come to think of it, we had the thing in the playroom for a good four or five months. That was a fun thing to trip over.

Anyway, no shipment for a really long time. So I called again. Come to find out, the parts were on back order. We proceeded to call for the next nine months, hoping that the parts would make an appearance. One of the last phone calls instructed us that the parts we were waiting for had to come from oversees. Then weeks later we found out that they no longer make them.

Hm mm . . . hope for redemption was looking bleak. Because so much time had gone by, I was not suffering with the sting of remorse anymore. In fact, I was kind of happy to discover that maybe the table would not be making another appearance.

Then it happened. The guy over the phone offered to send us a whole new table - brand new. It was very similar to the first one, just a slightly different model, all at no charge. I froze. In this moment, I had a choice.

A couple of weeks later, we were visited by the Yellow truck company. A very large and awkward box was delivered, bringing back the dreadful memories. Strangely, the next day we received another shipment - it was the game table again! Not only did they try and make things right by sending us a whole new game table, they tried to give us two. For the sake of integrity, I refused the second package with a smile. It would have been dishonest to keep it.

Tonight as I type, I hear a ping-pong ball bouncing back and forth, and the joy of my kid's laughter. The second model came a little bit smaller in size, and more attractive on the outside. We've found a wonderful spot for it, and I no longer feel annoyed by it's awkwardness. These games are a wonderful way to bring this family together.

This whole scenario made me think about how God's timing can sometimes seem delayed. It took us a whole year before things started to turn around for this Christmas gift. I'm not sure I understand why it played out the way it did, but I do like to think that God was building something in all of us during the wait.

God heard my remorseful prayer a whole year ago - and was even able to bring good from a particle board heap.