The Coat

It is beginning to get chilly here.
It is time to wear a coat.
I like cold weather, so I never mind pulling out the winter things.
If your favorite season is summer, the next few months are not enjoyable for you.

I remember a coat that my husband gave to me back when we were in college.
It was a short jacket with a faux fur look.
It was a jacket to wear on special occasions.
It was a typical 80’s style jacket.

I was surprised that he picked it out himself.
It fit perfectly.
There were quite a few events before we headed back to college.
I was excited to wear my new jacket.

We were at a special New Year’s party given by the parents of one of our friends.
It was a wistful time for me, because Georgia Tech had trimesters rather than semesters.
The majority of colleges had the month of January off for Christmas break.
He went back to school right after New Year’s Day.

Ringing in the New Year meant saying goodbye the next day.
Saying goodbye and knowing I was not going to see him until the spring.
It was time to leave and I went to get my jacket, saying goodbye to friends along the way.
I knew where the mom had put all of our coats.

There were two faux fur jackets right next to each other.
Exactly the same color and size.
How I wished I was a kindergartner, with my name written inside my coat!

There were no gloves in my pockets; no tissues.
There was nothing to distinguish my jacket from the other one.
There was one thing I could do.
I could see if I could smell my perfume around the collar of the jacket!

Every other aspect of the jacket was the same.
What were the chances that we each wore the same perfume?
There I stood, no one around, sniffing the collar of each jacket!
I determined which jacket was mine!

I never told him about what happened that night with the two jackets.
I wanted him to think that he was the only one who thought of such a gift.
All these years later, I have never mentioned it.

It’s silly really, but I always wondered if I really picked the right jacket!

Now Israel (Jacob) loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he had been born to him in his old age, and he made a richly ornamented robe for him. When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him. (Genesis 37:3,4)

Joseph had a dream.
He saw his mother and father and all of his brothers bowing down to him.

When he told his father as well as his brothers, his father rebuked him and said, “What is this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you?” His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind. (Genesis 37:10,11)

Joseph’s brothers were shepherds and took their father’s flock to graze.
Their father sent Joseph to check on his brothers.
After traveling a distance, Joseph found them.

So Joseph went after his brothers and found them near Dothan. But they saw him in the distance, and before he reached them, they plotted to kill him. “Here comes that dreamer!” they said to each other. “Come now, let’s kill him and throw him into one of those cisterns and say that a ferocious animal devoured him. Then we’ll see what comes of his dreams”…So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe, the richly ornamented robe he was wearing, and they took him and threw him into the cistern. (Genesis 37:17,18,23,24)

The brothers had no guilt; they continued to eat their meal as they plotted.
They decided to sell Joseph to merchants that went by in a caravan.

Then they got Joseph’s robe, slaughtered a goat and dipped the robe in the blood. They took the ornamented robe back to their father and said, “We found this. Examine it to see whether it is your son’s robe.” He recognized it and said, “It is my son’s robe! Some ferocious animal has devoured him. Joseph has surely been torn to pieces.” Then Jacob tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and mourned for his son many days. (Genesis 37:31-33)

The merchants sold Joseph to one of Pharaoh’s officials.
A whole series of events took place that only God could orchestrate.
Joseph was put in charge of all of Egypt, directly under Pharaoh.

Famine spread over the whole country.
Joseph’s brothers went to Egypt to secure grain for their families.
Joseph was in charge yet unrecognizable to his brothers.
They bowed before him, asking for the grain they so desperately needed.
Joseph’s dreams came true.

Joseph’s identity was finally revealed to his brothers.
They worried that Joseph might hold a grudge against them.
They worried that he might pay them back for what they did to him.

Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. (Genesis 50:19,20)

Grace…such amazing grace.

There are many ways to recognize a coat.