Lessons from LOST

While everyone was watching the season 3 premiere of Lost last night, I was sitting in the middle of season 2, trying desperately to catch up with everyone else. Tuesday night, I think God used Lost to teach me a lesson. Here we go.

The condo I live in was bought by my roommate during foreclosure by another couple. This couple couldn’t pay the mortgage on the place so they just quit. Stopped. Then, they dragged out the proceedings for a year. You would think they were broke but perhaps they were just living beyond their means. See, all of the hardware in the house (sinks, lights, handles) was all fairly new and purchased by them. Weird. After they moved out, they didn’t change their mailing address so guess who got a whole bunch of 2nd and 3rd notices for late payment of bills? Well, yeah, me. So, we randomly get letters and bills from companies (or people) looking for the previous occupants. They use multiple names, too, which is weird. Anyhow…back to my point.

Monday, a piece of mail arrived to the woman (who goes by two completely different names) who used to live in my home. It was from DSW. Now, I had been scouting out a pair of brown Nine West boots to replace the scruffy pair I’ve been wearing for the past two years. I opened the mail. There was a $20 coupon for this woman because she was using her DSW card to get points (okay…WHY wouldn’t you change your address for $20 off a pair of shoes?!). I was so happy! I mean, I could totally use this coupon toward my boots. I sing songed my way upstairs and turned on a Lost episode called “Psalm 23.”

In the episode two brothers were arguing. One brother was a drug dealer, the other, a priest. The dealer offered the priest lots and lots of money if the priest would help him smuggle heroin out of the country. The dealer said to the priest, “now you can get all of those vaccinations you need.” The priest said….no. He didn’t want to get the money that way. It was drug money. Illegal drug money. In the end, the dealer threatened to burn the church so the priest caved in but then turned the dealer in. Some sort of point slapped me across the face. As little and minor as it would be to use the $20 coupon, it isn’t mine to use. I should have never opened that piece of mail (ooooo….illegal). I fought God a little bit but realized I wanted to do the right thing and not fudge a little along the way.

I like Lost. I like the Christian undertones. But then I watched an episode last night that completely fired me up. So much so, I might write a letter to the writers and producers. More on that later….