“Try at Your Own Risk.”
The small black dot upon the newly purchased leather chair had surfaced a few months back. The chair had gained this memory mark as a marker must have slipped somewhere along the line. I got to thinking about that little black dot and decided to try and figure out how to remove it. Like any smart person these days, I first looked on-line in hopes of finding a quick fix. I found one. It said, “Take rubbing alcohol upon a cotton swab, rub it inwards towards the center of the mark so as not to smear it. Repeat as necessary. However, rubbing alcohol may lighten the leather so before using, try it on an unseen part of the chair.”
I looked behind the chair and wouldn’t you know, there was a flap in an unseen area. I pulled out the necessary ingredients to experiment upon it before actually touching the rubbing alcohol to the leather and much to my satisfaction, it did not change color. I was good to go! Or so I thought! Grabbing a new cotton swab, I dipped it into the rubbing alcohol and did as they had recommended. The cotton turned the color of the marker, and I was pleased to see it was pulling out the stain. I repeated the process several times and soon there was not merely a remaining portion of the darker dot, but now there was a light ring around the black dot—looking more like a bullseye rather than a mere spot upon my chair. That’s when it dawned on me. Although the main part of the chair was leather, the parts of the chair that were hidden, were made of imitation leather. In other words, it was fake leather upon which I’d initially rubbed the rubbing alcohol on—thus, it did not turn color during the practice run. When utilizing it on real leather, it actually did what I’d been warned about. The warning was: “It can lift the color from real leather.” One phone call to the place where it had been purchased soon brought a promise of a return call from a specialist.
Truth is, I didn’t stop to pray about any of this. I just took it upon myself to figure it out. The store from where it had been purchased was open the very hour I was in need and I hadn’t taken the time to seek the help I needed. Upon review, the warning of “Try at your own risk”—validated I’d taken a risky risk. How often it is that I “try at my own risk” within various pockets of life? How often do I just patter away like it’s no big deal. Soon, the initial problem seemed small in comparison to the one I created.
Jeremiah 33:3 is not merely calling my name, but sort of sending out a high pitch reminder. “Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.” As I await a call from the professional dot taker outer, I know I must rely on the One who is the chief stain taker outer. Ultimately, in Him my trust. Amen.
