“All right, let’s not panic. I’ll make the money by selling one of my livers. I can get by with one.”
Homer Simpson

I really didn’t panic.  In my quick stop home before leaving the house again, I grabbed the mail from the mailbox.  Most of the mail got torn up and trashed.  Mostly junk mail and no magazines today.  Oh … here’s the gas and electric bill.  Gulp.  Yeah, it’s been Michigan-cold here and those bills can get a little scary.  Well, let me just take a quick look before I leave.  Tearing them both open, I laid them side by side.  Oh my.  Was it really that cold last month?  Quickly adding in my head, and then adding in another hundred or so more and we’d be 4 digits big.  What??  In a daze, I left the house thinking I would be asking Ted for extra money to pay those bills.  And then I couldn’t stop thinking.  There’s no way.

Later, Ted called and we chatted about the day.  As usual, he asked, “Did we get any mail?”  “Oh yeah,” I replied, “Guess what our gas and electric bill total was?”  His guess was way off.  He couldn’t believe it either.  Then he reminded me that the bills were basically for the month of January when we were not even home.  The heat had been turned down and we had spent the month in the hospital with Amanda.  How could our bills be so big?  I told Ted he’d have to take a look and puzzle it out later.

“Two frogs fell into a bowl of cream. One didn’t panic, he relaxed and drowned. The other kicked and struggled so much that the cream turned to butter and he walked out.”  Author Unknown

I could not wait until later.  So, I pulled out the previous month’s bills and sat down to scrutinize them.

Ah-ha!  Big light bulb moment!  I paid last month’s bills but apparently, the energy company did not receive my payments.  After double checking via on-line banking I discovered that the check still had not cleared.  Thanks to modern technology, I quickly logged on to the energy company website and was going to pay last month’s bills.  But the website did not say I owed last month’s bills.  So confusing!!  I finally had a ‘live chat’ with a representative who let me know that last month’s heat and electric had been paid and that all was well.  Hmm.  They must have FINALLY received my check.

In the book of 1 Samuel, the Philistines capture the ark of God.  God was not pleased and verse 9 says that:  “the hand of the Lord was against the city, causing a very great PANIC, and he afflicted the men of the city, both young and old, so that tumors broke out upon them.”

I really didn’t panic.  But a gas and electric bill that size was going to require some transferring of funds, or even the sale of a kidney.  Fortunately, I persisted and figured it out right away.  Reacting in a panic would not have been very constructive – it gave the Philistines tumors!  So, just a little advice next time you want to totally freak out and panic about something – don’t.

Just Laurel