Yes, I hit the jackpot – struck it rich – won the lottery, so to speak. Well the Lipton Green Tea Citrus lottery, that is. As you know, I have been in search of this green tea for awhile now. But each new store I visit has empty shelves where their Lipton Tea products have previously been. I continued to widen my search radius each day, but to no avail. Until now. Yesterday I had headed north and east, so today I headed south and west. How far would I have to go, I wondered? Or had this product vanished from the face of the earth forever?

Not one to lose hope or to give up easily, I continued my search. When I felt I had gone far enough west, I pulled into the parking lot of a large grocery store. As I had been doing, I grabbed a cart even though my recent failures informed me that I would not need this cart unless of course I intended to purchase something else so that I wouldn’t appear foolish. These stores are so large that if I did in fact find green tea when I arrived at the area where it should be, I did not want to have to go all the way back to the store’s entrance to retrieve a cart. So as a gesture of hope, I always grabbed a cart even though I didn’t know if I would find my Lipton Green Tea Citrus in stock or not. Up to this point, I had not needed a cart. But being the eternal optimist, I persisted in pushing an empty cart through the store. After all, you never know. Maybe this time will be different.

This time there was an actual “Pepsi guy” stocking the shelves. I had learned that Pepsi was also the distributor of Lipton products, so here was my chance to gather some first hand intel about the situation. He informed me that this situation affected a tri-state area. (much bigger than I had previously thought) So simply crossing state lines wasn’t going to guarantee that my product would be in stock. He had no idea how long the situation would continue. I was about to leave, resigning myself to the inevitable, when he suggested I check at the far end of the aisle for some alternative tea beverages.

And there at the end of that very long aisle, I hit the jackpot! There was my Lipton Green Tea Citrus sitting on fully stocked shelves. I could hardly believe my eyes! I had almost turned around and walked out empty handed after my conversation with the Pepsi man. Had he not stocked these shelves also? or had he not understood which product I was searching for? At any rate, I had now gone from scarcity to abundance in the time it took to walk the length of the aisle. It was on sale and I was ready to procure not a stash, but a stockpile of my favorite beverage.

My search had come to an end, so I was no longer faced with the question of how far I would go, as my previous post by that title asked. At this point I have to confess – now I find myself feeling much like the rich man in Luke chapter 12. He was a stockpiler, too. (although I’ve never thought of myself as a stockpiler before) This man had a good crop, so good he decided to tear down his barns and build bigger ones in order to store all his grain and goods. Here’s his story in his own words,

“Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I’ll say to myself, ‘You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.’ But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God.” (Luke 12:18-21)

I really don’t want this guy to be my role model. Jesus gave a clear instruction in Matthew 6:19-21 when He said,

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

I must say, I don’t feel any added sense of peace or of security now that I have a stockpile of my green tea beverage. I guess it’s true what they say, ‘green tea citrus can’t buy happiness’ or peace or purpose or fulfillment or anything else for that matter. I have hit the green tea jackpot and I am still a poor sinner in need of a Savior. It’s true what Jesus said in Mark 8:36-37,

“What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?”

not all the tea in China, that’s for sure . . .

sincerely, Grace Day