Christmas Present from GOD

I'd be lying if I were to tell you that the whole incident with my landlady did not affect me emotionally. Remember how it all started - with the whole backpack incident. Today, I am very happy that this whole thing came to an unexpected conclusion.

Call it luck or a master stroke from God, something miraculous happened.

A brand new replacement of the backpack arrived at the office today. The reason it arrived at the office this time is because of the previous mess. But that's nothing to shout about. A replacement for the missing one, that's only natural.

But what is even more bizarre is that the missing one - the one that got me kicked out of this house and subsequently written off as mis-delivered - came back to life! I know it's hard to believe. I was surprised myself.

So where did I found it? Apparently the warranty office has written my house number wrongly. It wrote 1 instead of 7! It appeared in today's historical message thread when I received the new bag. In fact, they even wrote the address wrongly. Instead of Clifton, they wrote Clitton. And the post code, 1PD instead of 7PD. With so many errors in the address, there was no way the bag was going to reach me and that's why they realised it was much easier for them to send me a replacement than trying to retrace the delivery!

I didn't want to pursue with the matter and thought, after so much that happened in the past two weeks over this stupid bag, I might as well get on with life and be happy with the replacement though not the colour that I wanted. As usual, I'd go to the gym and swimming pool on Mondays. However, I realised I left my gear in another bag! It was the first time I have forgotten to bring them in the bag. So that was a rare one. That means, no exercise today or if I insist, I had to cycle home to get my stuff. Arrgh! What a hassle. Forget it then.

So I thought, okay then I'll hit the gym then. Damn! The contact lens and bathing materials were in the other bag too! Arrgghhh!! Frust! So, no gym. Something I would unusually let go easily.

It was as if something was prompting me to go home and go to number 1 and ask if they had my bag. Every event that happened today was stacked up in making me do just that. So I did. I rang the door bell at number 1. A lady came out. I asked, "Excuse I know this sounds strange. But I was wondering if a bagpack was delivered to this address, like two weeks or a week ago?"

The lady's look brightened from a "what the heck is this Asian guy doing at my doorstep" look to something she was familiar, "O! That's right! So it was yours! And I thought who this bag belonged to."

She went back into the house and reached for the bag. It was still neatly wrapped. She handed the bag to me. I insisted to show her my ID even though she declined. She said, I'm sure it's yours since you asked about it. I just wanted to make sure she's 110% confident with what she's doing. She smiled when she saw both names on the ID card and consignment note matched. "That's alright," she said.

The bag still neatly wrapped when the lady in number 1 handed it over to me

Now I have two backpacks. I am thinking what should I do with the extra. It's either I use it for my upcoming trip to Switzerland or I'll just sell it in Ebay. After some thought, I'd probably keep it for a while and wait for my next inspiration. After all, I also realised that the new bag was slightly bigger and a newer model. So, it'll be a more suitable bag to carry for my travels.

The old and the new

As I sat down to consolidate my feelings of excitement, I remembered that I prayed in Church one day about how much stress I had with the landlady and asked God to grant me patience to get through each day with her. Or if not, make something else work. What happened today is a true testament that God has answered this prayer in a mysterious way. He has not only taught me patience but also made me learnt tolerance and forgiveness. Whether He has given me a new bag or brought me to a new place to stay (as this place is also nearer to the train station and my office as well as located on the better side of Reading) in His way of answering this prayer, He has made me lived through this in an educational manner; that "every cloud has a silver lining". I am really really happy to say that this is an extremely meaningful Christmas present from GOD.