Confessions II

Serendipity, Providence, Happenstance, Coincidence… or Alan the dummy still hasn´t learned his lesson and God is gracious and patient and willing to teach. If you read Confessions, recall that the bank gave me $5k in cash that did not belong to me and, in a nutshell, I justified stealing it… but I didn´t (praise God!).

¨Mr. Foster, how much did you expect your tax refund to be?¨  I was on the phone with a Mrs. Johnson of the IRS headquarters. I had called her after our tax refund check had cleared, faithfully deposited by the person that oversees our account while we´re out of the country. I know it´s way late in the year, but I´d succumbed to identity theft, had our returns rejected, mailed in a paper return, a hand written note, affidavit, etc., and previously talked to the IRS on the phone. I´m also not up-to-date on politics and aware that Uncle Sam gives lots of money to undeserving people. (I´m still trying to ramble off a defense for my thoughts and actions.)

I´d like to pat myself on the back and say that it was easier this time… because it was… but the truth is, I stopped to think of all the reasons that it would go undetected and all the ways that I (or you for that matter) could spend it better than Uncle Sam. A google search had shown that, although rare, it does happen, and you can be held accountable, with penalties, for accepting a tax refund beyond your due.

¨No, I can´t remember how much¨ I answered, slyly thinking that I really couldn´t remember the exact amount that we were happily anticipating. ¨Well about how much were you expecting?¨

¨I´m not sure,¨ I lied. There was a pause.

¨Mr. Foster… I had to laugh when I saw how much your return was.¨

Contrary to underlying tone of many sermons I´ve heard, God wants us to do the right thing because of love and trust, not fear of punishment. Honestly, I did not love mailing Uncle Sam a check today for $14,570.48, and my attitude did not undergird a complete trust in God to supply all the needs of my family and I; but it feels good to have a clear conscience now… and a hope that maybe I´ll do better on the next test that comes my way.