Darth Vader and God?!

Jennifer's been pointing out I come home with a lot of God stories lately. Maybe one of the oddest would be connected to a halloween costume (being such a religious holiday and all -- I won't get into the fact that it's rivaling Christmas in popularity -- maybe later!).

So I was in the 4th store looking for a Darth Vader costume for the little man for halloween (he hasn't even seen Star Wars, but he saw Darth Vader on the front of the Target circular and said that's who he wanted to be for halloween). I had been up and down the aisles multiple times, as I had three times prior, to no avail. I accepted that I wouldn't be able to find "exactly the right one that I wanted", and grabbed an adult costume that would require some major renovations. Not a big deal unless you are such a control freak like me -- it should have been utter failure (according to Rob's Rules of Order). But the oddest thing happened once I accepted the smallness of the battle, that we are not in control of the big things NOR the little things. I turned the corner, and there in front of me -- right where I started and revisited at least one other time -- was the only remaining children's Darth Vader costume left in the Midlands (or so it feels). I immediately thanked God.

Now, really... I mean seriously... Does God care about a halloween costume? I pretty sure the answer is no!

But we know God cares about us -- he knows every hair on our head (more for some than others) -- he knows our struggles and our joys, our strengths and our weaknesses, he celebrates our victories and comforts us in defeat. He is our heavenly Father and he loves us very much. He wants us to succeed and he wants us to experience happiness and joy -- but as every good parent, He knows we cannot experience such things until we appreciate such things.

As I've mentioned, there are many other little stories along the way. Maybe I catalog them, maybe I won't, and this would be one of the least of those stories. But I do think it's another example of how we should celebrate and thank God for everything, everyday. My personal victory was NOT finding the costume, but finding God's hand in everything I do and thanking Him accordingly.