For the past several weeks, my schedule has been non-stop from early morning to late at night. This entire week I cherished the thought that Saturday would FINALLY be my day to rest and recover from an exhausting schedule.
Looking forward to something so simple yet so refreshing helped me get through some of the more exhausting moments this past week. I kept thinking about a long leisurely Saturday morning moment to myself.
It's one of the things I love to do most. Sit in bed with a cup of coffee and a stack of books to read. Most people don't have the luxury of doing this often enough but it's one of the things I treasure most, especially on a Saturday morning. I can't even remember the last time I've been able to do that!
After waking up with sheer delight at my first few sips of the french press coffee I made, I grabbed my bible thinking "ahhhh, I am just going to savor this." I read in Luke 5:16 that Jesus OFTEN withdrew to lonely places to pray. Yep. I was excited. This would be my morning too. Quiet, prayerful, full of rest.
.....or not.
I was torn away from that place to get the first text from North Carolina.
"Jen! Very disturbing email from your address supposedly coming from you that you got mugged in London and need money. Didn't sound like you but let me know."
And they just kept coming! Facebook messages, texts, calls, skype. All morning long and well into the afternoon. Friends, family, acquaintances.
I guess I should look at it this way. I know I'm loved. HIGHLIGHT of this debacle for me was a skype call with Peter who is now in Sweden! We haven't talked for months! It was wonderful to hear about his adventures and that Nori would be following from Hungary soon! I sure do miss my European friends.
The hacker cleared out all my contacts and all my emails so I couldn't send an email to anyone letting them know it was a hoax. I don't even know all the people it was sent to! (If it was sent to you, I hope you didn't send any money!)
What made me most angry was the fact that people have given towards missions ventures in the past. The thought of some hacker actually succeeding in this hoax got me a little worked up, especially when I got a call from a man whose been a partner of mine in ministry for years and was going to send money.
I did my best today to send out a mass email but I know I didn't reach everyone. I reported the email and hacking to gmail. I truly hope no one fell for that hoax.
Now it's Saturday night and I'm back in that place that I started at this morning. I'm going to repeat the first part of the morning. I even made another french press coffee. I have my stack of books and I'm ready to read.
Not sure what that randomness was all about, but I'm thankful for the people in my life calling, texting, facebooking to make sure I wasn't mugged. Not mugged but definitely bugged by this whole situation. Hopefully its over!
