Pockets and Hoods

I love pockets and hoods.
They provide a place to put my keys and a ready-made covering for my head.
You expect jeans to have pockets, but I like when dresses and skirts have them, too.

Most of my jackets have hoods.
There is nothing better on a rainy day or windy day.
A makeshift hat right at your fingertips.

I would be lost without my hood.
If rain catches me off guard, I’m ready.
If it suddenly gets windy, I’m protected.

Pockets and hoods are the best things ever invented.
Women especially will complain about “hat hair”, the flattening of their hair under a hat.
Not so with hoods; take off a hood and you are as good as new.

My husband travels quite a bit.
He is always looking for travel clothes that are lightweight and easy to pack.
He has recently found a line of clothing with hidden pockets throughout.

He has quite a few items: vests, travel pants, shirts, and jackets.
There are pockets in places you would never imagine.
In fact there are video tutorials about the numerous pockets and their uses.

As much as he loves those clothes, they are not for me.
Give me two pockets, one on each side, and I am just fine.
A place for my lipstick, a place for my keys and I am good to go.

My children learned to empty their pockets before putting something in the hamper.
Whatever I found in the pockets was mine to keep.
I accumulated quite a bit of change for the change jar that way.

I cannot even count the times I have washed things that were forgotten in pockets.
Chap Stick, money, and handwritten notes.
It is the latter that is a problem; grocery lists that have faded with unreadable writing.

My youngest son had a literal treasure trove in his pockets.
The things in his pockets were treasure to him but to no one else.
He would find things on the bus or on the floor at school and in the pocket they would go.

A pen without the ink cartridge, a Lego piece, or a marker that had seen better days.
Erasers, broken pencils, pennies, rubber bands, high-bounce balls, and paper clips.
He liked finding things; he liked bringing them home.

It wasn’t so much the collection as much as the find itself.
There was something so thrilling about finding something in a place you’d least expect.
There was a sort of conquest in the find and in the pocket placement.

The Philistines and the Israelites were face to face; one on one hill, one on the other.
There was a valley between them.
In this valley was a champion named Goliath who was over nine feet tall.
Every day, he taunted the Israelites.

Choose a man and have him come down to me. If he is able to fight and kill me, we will become your subjects; but if I overcome him and kill him, you will become our subjects and serve us.
(1 Samuel 17:8,9)

Representative combat.
A face-off where the result of their combat would determine the battle’s result.
Ancient people believed the warrior’s gods controlled the outcome.

Little did they know.

The youngest son of Jesse tended his father’s sheep.
Jesse sent his son, David to the battle to bring his brothers some provisions.
Jesse also wanted a report so he could be assured of his sons’ safety.

David could not believe all that he saw and heard.
Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?
(1 Samuel 17:26)

Even though he was young, David approached the king.
Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine, your servant will go and fight him.
(1 Samuel 17:32)

King Saul wanted to put David in some of his own armor but David refused.

I cannot go in these because I am not used to them. So he took them off. Then he took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones from the stream, put them in the pouch of his shepherd’s bag, and with his sling in his hand, approached the Philistine…You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will hand you over to me, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. Today I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel…Reaching into his bag and taking out a stone, he slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell face down on the ground.(1 Samuel 17:39,40,45,46,49)

David was victorious over his enemy with a sling and a stone.
A stone that he took out of the pocket of his bag.
A pocket that held the familiar and the ordinary.

The ordinary is never ordinary for long in God’s hands.
The ordinary things inside a pocket can slay a giant if God so desires.
The ordinary can do the extraordinary and show that the Lord, He is God.

Never underestimate the things you have in your pockets.
They just may be the things that God uses to bring down His enemy.
They just may be the things that bring God the most glory.

Nothing is insignificant when it is important to God.
Nothing will ever be wasted when God uses it for His purposes.

What simple thing will God use for His glory?
Empty your pockets and be amazed.