A not-so special delivery.
Medical supplies were delivered to our front door. But with a twist.
Within an hour of arriving home from the hospital, medical supplies were being delivered to our front door. We were not expecting them that quickly but felt grateful to have the bottled nutrition for my feeding tube. Roger kindly answered the door and thanked the man who’d carried everything from his truck to our front porch. I noticed the guy’s purposefulness and the rapid cadence of his voice when he said, “I’ll need a debit card. You need to pay up-front right now and file with your insurance company later.” Then he nervously repeated, “So, I’ll need your debit card.”
Roger has a remarkable calming presence. He’d started the day with an early phone call from Indiana University Hospital announcing that I was ready to come home two days sooner than expected. That set into motion coordinating childcare for Ryan since Covid-19 protocols only allowed one person to retrieve me. He was also dutifully managing all of my at-home care which included setting up a table to hold bandages and medications. He also designating another space for the tower of post operative care instructions we’d be bringing home. Needless to say, he had a lot on his mind. So without hesitation, Roger respectfully obliged the man by paying for the delivery with our debit card. After he signed the receipt, the man promptly left.
We didn’t think a thing more about the entire event until a month later when we received our bank statement. It detailed the payment that covered my feeding tube supplies. That was no surprise. However, it was a debit exceeding $900 that had been billed on the very same day that caught our eyes. The $900 was for a payment made to an apartment complex located just 14-miles from our neighborhood. As it turns out, we hadn’t just paid for my feeding tube supplies. We had also paid the delivery man's rent. He’d specifically asked for our debit card as part of his scam.
Ephesians 4:31-32 encourages us to “Get rid of all bitterness and anger… to be kind and tenderhearted, forgiving one another as God in Christ forgave you.” It would have been easy to harbor anger against the medical supply delivery man, or to feel sorry for ourselves. But what was the point? We’d successfully dodged Covid and I survived cancer. Having been so blessed, the nine hundred dollars felt insignificant. Meanwhile, I’ll always wonder what that man was feeling when he rolled up to our house knowing he couldn’t pay for his own.
“We could have felt sorry for ourselves. But what was the point? We’d successfully dodged Covid and I survived cancer. Compared to those accomplishments, nine hundred dollars felt insignificant.”
Grateful to be so privileged that we could have medical supplies delivered to our front door... even if they weren't the most fashionable. This is what getting better looks like. Amen!