We
made a seemingly unremarkable trip over to WalMart yesterday. Nothing at the start to indicate that it
would be any different from any of the other thousands of WalMart excursions we
have taken over the years we have lived here in Galveston. I mean, I was limping a little from my sore
knee, but we still managed to make it to the cart rack and grab something for
me to hang onto for the romp through the store itself.
We
headed in the direction of the garden section, but I was able to deftly
maneuver a course away from there and more in line with other, more reasonable
pursuits. But I was playing the long
game, and I wasn’t about to reveal my hidden intent just yet. We passed by some shirts that caught Chris’
eye. Ah, a perfect opportunity. I encouraged her to try them on. After all, she has been looking for shorts
for weeks now, and her search intensified after we signed on for the cruise (No, we’re not leaving any time soon. It’s in two years. Well, a year and a half). So we headed in the direction of the changing
rooms. She even found something else to
try on right on our route. And as she
disappeared into the changing room, I told her I would be in the electronics
department (Insert evil, “my plan is
working perfectly” laugh here).
And
she found me there not long after, two clothing purchases in tow (which is a
huge accomplishment for my wife. She
hates to go shopping for clothes). But
what did I have in my sights? Ah, so
glad you asked. It must begin with a
little background. Ever since Hurricane
Ike we have had the use of one of the original Blu-ray disk players, a gift
from some dear friends. It covered one
whole shelf on our little entertainment center.
And it worked like a charm up until a month or two ago. That’s when it decided to fine tune its
dinosaur-esque skills and only operate when a DVD was placed within. That’s right.
A Blu-ray player that only played DVD’s and NOT Blu-ray disks. For most of our needs, that has been
fine. Our collection of movies is
primarily in the form of DVD’s anyway (we
are, after all, somewhat dinosaur-esque ourselves. We even have some VHS movies that can be
played in our combination DVD/VHS player that no longer plays DVD’s. Sensing a pattern here?). But we do have some key titles that we could
only find in the Blu-ray category, so they have been sadly off limits.
So
here we were. We just happened to be in
the electronics department when Chris arrived with her purchases. And suddenly an idea struck me. “Why don’t we look at the Blu-ray disk
players? They play DVD’s, too, and you
know ours doesn’t work on Blu-rays anymore.”
We searched for an aisle or two, and then I asked the poor. Bored guy at
the counter where they might be found. Sure
enough, they were fairly close to where he said they would be. And not all that unreasonable. Just cheap enough to get under Chris’ “But do
we really NEED it or is this just a want?” radar.
Success. It was in the basket and bound for our
house. Fascinating, too, was the
advancement in technology since pre-2008.
This player was miniscule compared to the old one. It wasn’t much bigger than one of the disks
we put in it. And speaking of disks …
As
we headed out of electronics toward the fruit, we just happened to pass by the
movies section. And there just happened
to be the next movie I have been wanting to see (Jumanji). And it just happened
to be only available in Blu-ray. And
there just happened to be one package that was considerably cheaper than the
other. And I just happened to stumble
upon that difference. And we just
happened to need a new sample to try out in the new machine we just got. Why, one would think I used my time wisely
while Chris was trying on those clothes.
Hmm. Use my time wisely. Sounds like good advice.
Colossians
4:5 says, “Be wise in the way you act
toward outsiders; Make the most of every opportunity.”
Father,
help me to use my time wisely in matters that make a difference. Amen.
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