Character Confession: When Lightning Strikes

Before I start, I need YOUR thankful posts. My plan is to hand my blog over to you in November so I can write a 50,000 novel in 30 days. All you have to do is write why you are thankful. It can be funny or serious. As short as a paragraph or as long as 750 words. Send to me at juliearduini@juliearduini.com with a short bio and optional picture. Sign off as you want the world to know you (anonymous, full name, first name only…) I don’t assign dates, it is first come, first served. I’ve run out of slots the last two years, so please send in as soon as you can. I don’t have words to explain what an impact these have on everyone.

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Today I’m sharing a true story to encourage those who thought 2012 would be amazing, and it was anything but. My point of the story is not only does God restore all the locusts have stolen, He outgives what we lost in the first place. My prayer is you know Him, not of Him, because of His Son, Jesus.

I was a junior in college, ready to transfer to a NYS school that had a great reputation nationwide. I worked in retail and was learning the duties of a third key manager. I was the one who made the actual bank drop, so I was the one holding the bag last. I assure you, I dropped the bag at the bank.

The next day the manager tried calling me in the era before cell phones. I was at the school over an hour away, so I didn’t know anything was amiss until later in the day. I called as soon as I got the message and learned the bank bag was never received by the bank. Police were called and they interviewed me and the manager separately.

It didn’t take long before I realized what was going on. The local police told me to fess up and tell them where the bag was. And I learned months later that the manager was in another room insinuating I had it. I was a kid, really, and a naive one. But I was also sassy and told them they were bugging an honor student when every night I try to get to my car and dodge the drug deals. I knew they weren’t equipped to deal with this case, but the cards were in their hands. And they were looking at me.

The company wasn’t as concerned as I was, they were able to write it off. It wasn’t a huge amount, not even back then, but still. It was the mystery of it. I touched the bag last. I dropped it in. And to this day, not one person called to ask why their check never cleared.

The saga dragged on past the summer and into my new college life. I learned the state troopers wanted to give me and the manager a lie detector test. Because I was away, I went to a different barracks and met with a kind but tough as nails man who explained how the lie detector process works. I’m telling you, you can’t fail purely on nerves because I was a 19 year old girl scared to death they were going to accuse me like the local police did.

I learned immediately I passed with one exception, one question. I knew. The question is do I know who might be involved.

It was then the trooper explained that for them, the focus was never on me as ringleader, but on me as naive kid being bullied by another. There was a rumor that a manager on the street we worked on was in trouble with a loan shark and needed fast money. Their eyes were on the manager, and she failed the test.

I admitted I truly didn’t know, but more than one source was coming to me and telling me that the manager was pointing the finger at me.

My name was cleared. They never made arrests, and I went on with college life. Months later the company headquarters called. They wanted to give me a bonus for my trouble.

And they insisted the manager present it to me, while she got nothing.

As you can imagine, it was an awkward meeting and did not go over well. I went on to graduate and pursue a job in my field. A year plus later I was in the running for a job that sounded like a dream. I knew some of the interviewing team, and one of them called me. Did I have any enemies? I had no idea what he meant. Then he gave a name.

Turns out, she was in the running for the same job. She learned I was strongly being considered, and started a phone campaign to stop them.

At this point, I was young in faith and so full of hope. God would redeem this mess, I knew it. I just didn’t know how or when.

I got the job, and part of my duties was to visit where she worked and meet with her, a different position than the retail one we had years before. I was scared, but I called her and told her this is a clean slate and I don’t want trouble. We can do this, if she’s willing. She said she was.

One of our mutual clients was in a home and I decided we should visit her together. She agreed, putting us in a car together. I’m chatting her ear up about Jesus, and my guess is if she could have pulled the handle on the car and jumped out, she would have. Suddenly there was a flash of lighting out of nowhere. Nothing like I had ever seen. The radio flickered, same for dashboard instruments. I kept driving.

A construction worker waved me down and asked if we were okay. I said sure. He said our car was hit by a freak lightning. He couldn’t believe we were okay. Young, chatty me rambles on saying of course we’re okay, Jesus Himself watches over me. I act as if my car getting hit is an everyday thing as I drive with the person who made life challenging for a season and now we’re colleagues. I look over to her, and she’s pale.

“I don’t know what it is about you, but you always come out on top. What I did to you was awful and you never seemed upset. Now this. You have an amazing God.”

Yes. Yes, I do.