Two days ago, some poor soul ran over my mailbox. It happened three times in 11 years at one home back in Indiana.  However, that mailbox was right on a turn in the road that three winter drivers likely could not control. Interesting, no one fessed up as I recall.

The driver two days ago did leave part of his car, but the “Columbo” inside of me isn’t going to track down the driver. He snapped off the mailbox post right at the base and flattened the mailbox. As I shared with my family that night, “I’m glad it wasn’t me who ran over someone else’s mailbox.” Of all the mailboxes along the road, the Divine “coincidence” allowed the driver to take-out our mailbox, rather than me possibly losing control and taking out a neighbor’s.

Fortunately, there was a fence post in the barn that could be used. Fortunately, I found the bolt that held the post-hole digger together (I had taken it apart before the move to save room). Fortunately, mailboxes are mail of sheet metal and can be hammered back into shape. Fortunately, I had some good lag bolts and eye bolts from my dad after his passing. Fortunately, there was some old stain left by the previous owners, so I could slap a coat of stain on the 2x4s I used for the cross-piece and brace. Fortunately, I had an extra bag of “Sakreet” (concrete mixture) from the basement project. And fortunately, the weather was above freezing, so it was pretty easy to get past the frozen ground.

It’s a reality of life and now we’re going to have a mail box that will hang from the cross-member and deal much better with snowplow challenges. While it might not win the “Better Homes and Garden” prize for originality, it sure does look a lot better and is better serving for the daily mail-runs that the seven in our family anticipate!

It reminds me of the man who was mugged and relieved of his cash. His comment was, “I’m glad it was me who was mugged, rather than the one who mugged. I’m glad it was not that much and the Lord will provide. And I’m glad he did not take my life, but only took my money.”

It also reminds of Paul’s great words,

³⁵ Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? ³⁶ As it is written: “For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” ³⁷ Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, ³⁹ nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Rom. 8:35-39 NKJ)

Not even the person who wipes out your mailbox can separate you from the love of the Lord Jesus!