Previously written and published —

Debit cards are a marvelous thing as long as you remember your security code number and don’t get hacked! I have 2 separate cards and yes I have gotten them and their security codes messed up more than once! Last time I called the bank trying to straighten out a mess, they told me the card I was asking about was the joint account I had with Chief and that account was closed! Yes, that was card three and I cut it up.

A while back somebody in Saskatchewan tried to buy a $700 cell phone with my card. The bank, knowing I was too unintelligent to operate a phone that expensive, flagged that charge as fraudulent, cancelled the number, and I zoomed off to Alexander City for a new debit card. I was so excited when I realized I could get a DQ blizzard on this trip. Eating my Snickers blizzard on the way home, I was thinking of all the times, usually from an internet purchase, I had my card compromised. Used to have to wait two weeks for a new card but now the bank does them on site! Oldest sister-in-law has her card hacked 4 times this summer!

My most interesting debit card experience was when my card got stuck in a gas pump in Alexander City. Every time I received a pay check I would go to the same gas station, same pump, and fill up my Tahoe. You might remember the story from my Facebook page. It was a really hot summer day. I put the card in, reached to pull it out, and it was superglued in the slot. I tried and tried to pull it out and then humiliated and hangdogged I walk in to tell the attendant my card is stuck in the gas pump.

The attendant was very nice and said he would come out in a minute and get it out for me. I sit in the car sweating and waiting. He assured me this had happened before and he would get it out. He finally comes and he works up a sweat trying to pull the card out. A customer comes to the store so he goes back in but tells me in broken English, “Second man come soon! He get card out. Come in store, have drink and wait.” I want to say, “Yeah, I need a drink!” I thanked him and sat in the hot car, patiently waited for man number two.

Time passes, I sweat more. I see second man coming. I’m so excited. He tries everything. Turns the pump off…card still stuck. I tell him, “Just get some pliers and pull it out!” But I’m a woman and I know he thinks I shouldn’t know how to get it out. Well he says, “Third man come soon! No worry. Come in store. Have drink. Third man will get it out.” Seriously! And I wonder how many men are available. And don’t they have names? And I do want a drink now!

I’m just about ready to drive off, leave the card stuck in the pump, straight to the bank, have the card cancelled, when I see third man coming my way. He’s the youngest of them. As he approaches the car I tell him he needs to get some pliers to pull the card out. He tries and tries and I’m still suggesting he get some pliers. He finally says, “Pliers. Yes!” He walks down to the tire business next door and borrows some pliers. Of course he pulls the card right out. Now he says he’ll show me the correct way to use the card and now the card is once again stuck in the pump! Thank God we still have the pliers! Keep some in my glove compartment now. Maybe you should too!

We’re all waiting for someone to come or something to happen. We get struck in ruts in our lives and search for ways to smooth out our journeys. Like a good pair of pliers, God’s love can pull us out of despair and hopelessness. The Lord gives us the strength to travel through our frustrations and struggles. He tugs us through with hope for better days ahead. He listens and hears our prayers. Jesus is always by our sides, even in the darkness of despair.

“If the only prayer you ever say in your whole life is ‘thank you’ that would suffice,” — Meister Eckhart