The Tracking Number

I am expecting a package.
My husband is expecting a package as well.
We both got a notification that our packages were delivered yesterday.
We were both told that our packages were delivered in or around our mailbox.

Neither package arrived.
We went out to the mailbox.
There was nothing to be found inside or around it.
We looked at each of our doors and near our garage.

It is disconcerting to get notified that a package arrived and then not find it.
You wonder and imagine it sitting in some pile somewhere or lost for good.
We thought perhaps because the arrival day was Sunday, that might be the issue.
We decided to patiently wait for the Monday mail to arrive in hopes the packages would arrive.

The women in our neighborhood have a vibrant text thread.
We are there for each other.
We tell each other about lost or stray pets, or something that seems a bit strange.
We keep each other informed about trash or recycling pickup.

I texted my neighbors early this morning to see if anyone may have gotten our packages.
Each woman sweetly told me that our packages were not delivered at their homes.
The mystery continues.
I did some more searching.

I searched with the long, never able to be memorized, tracking number.
I was told it may still arrive three days from the day they say it was delivered.
I got in touch with UPS who told me that it was a two-tiered delivery system.
UPS delivers it to my post office who should then deliver it to me.

I called my post office.
The man asked for my address and asked if I had the postal tracking number.
I repeated the long, never able to be memorized, tracking number.
No, our postal tracking number begins with the number nine, he said as if I should know.

I scanned the tracking information I had and found the postal tracking number.
I read the numbers to him.
I am going to put you on hold for a brief time while I look into this for you, he said.
The wait was a bit more than brief, but he returned to me.

Your package was delivered to the wrong address, he said in a matter of fact way.
We will remedy the situation and you will have it delivered tomorrow.
I told him about texting my neighbors and none of them had our packages.
Can you tell me where it was delivered? I asked him.

As I could have guessed, he could not tell me that information.
Someone, somewhere got our packages and probably notified the post office.
I imagine our carrier retrieving our packages from the wrong house to bring them to us.
I am hoping they do arrive tomorrow.

All this from a simple tracking number.
All the pertinent information can be found simply by clicking on a highlight-able number.
There are levels of information contained in that number that we know nothing about.
Lost is not lost, or so it seems.

And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory. (Ephesians 1:13-14)

We hear the message of truth.
The Gospel goes down deep into our hearts and we are changed by faith.
We believe in Jesus and realize that we need Him as our Savior.
When we believe in Him, we are marked with a seal of the Holy Spirit.

Nothing can snatch us from His hands.
Nothing can take the Holy Spirit away from us.
Nothing else can fill us and take His place.
The Holy Spirit is our deposit, our guarantee of our redemption.

That seal is our own tracking number.
In Him, lost is not lost.
We are found by Him, to be in Him, so we can live for Him.
Pretty amazing.

Praise God for His seal upon us who are in Christ.