One of the coupon things she does is called my coke rewards. When you buy coke products, there is a reward code on it. You can set up a coke rewards program, enter your codes, and buy things with the points. She suggested I enter codes and buy something tonight. I entered codes and bought something on my coke rewards as my "first."
Laura has used this pretty effectively. She has bought our family things like decorative mugs, Old Navy gift cards, and magnets. She has done this. So, she helped me enter some codes and this we did fairly effectively. My computer kept saying something about a long script and kicking me off the site. I would have to log back on and this got to be fairly frustrating. After a while (longer than I anticipated), I had logged in the limit for a week. Then, Laura showed me how to purchase something. I did not want to use up a bunch of her reward points so I looked at the lower end bargains. I could buy things like a coke or a powerade. Woohoo. I went up and looked at the more expensive things. I could get a $20 Barnes and Nobles gift card and Laura suggested that. That would use up a lot points (most of what she had saved up) and I did not want to use up the points that she had so diligently accumulated.
I found a good deal for a $3 digital download for a book. I was surprised at how few points this cost. The site had a link where I could see the books available. There were some really good books. So, I did that. I clicked on my link to buy the book and then I started encountering more problems. Have I mentioned I started this at 9:30 after church tonight? I would have to create an account for this site; no easy task. I did that and found the book I wanted and clicked on it to buy. It seems that the book I wanted had a price of 12 dollars and my account only had $3 and that's where they get you. The link did say that it was for a $3 digital download, but then just listed a bunch of books without prices that I assumed I could buy. I assumed wrong. Then, I started hunting for a book that was $3. This was no easy task. After searching for a long time, I finally bought one of those little Max Lucado booklets; not a real book. I purchased it and then it said to be sure to download an application so I could actually read the book. I attempted to do this. Then I tried to download the book. These last two steps did not go well. What happened next is a bit fuzzy, but suffice it to say after almost 2 hours, I have bought a $3 book that I have no idea where it is on my computer and am unable to read it. It is not on my Kindle, not on my I-books, and not in my digital library. I will probably never do this "first" again.
I could have had a free powerade!!!
What I thought about as I did this "first" was how I wish I had never started doing this "first." It looked like I had found a shortcut to a good deal. I had not. Sometimes we try to take shortcuts spiritually with the same results. There are people who say if we just pray a certain way, go to a certain church, and say certain words that we will have instant spirituality. It just does not work that way. Relationships require time, communication, love, and some other things. If we want to get to know God, we can't just recite some magic prayer and get what we want. We need to spend time with God. We need to repent of sin. We need to spend time with godly people. We need to have a heart that truly wants to know God. God wants us to know Him. He will reveal Himself to people who seek after Him. His promise to us in Jeremiah 29:13 is this, "And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart."
Seeking God with a whole heart should be our life's pursuit. It will not end in disappointment.
Glad the abundant life is available to all
Barry
3 things I thank God for today
1. Soft bed
2. Pandora
3. Email
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