Death Valley, CA 2005: Trent and his daughter, Arianna, would have a mighty difficult time finding any lost item in these vast dunes. Similarly, Trent felt utterly hopeless and indignant at himself for somehow misplacing some of Ari’s photographic treasures.
Excerpts from Trent’s historical letters candidly and anonymously offer flavors and insights from real-time and real-life origins. Hop aboard these instructions and confessions in mid-stream, below, and see if they help you, too.
From Trent Ling:
I have suffered an indelible defeat. Ari dropped her phone in the pool on the most recent ministry Saturday at our house. She was able to recover it quickly, but it still would not work properly. She was concerned that the repair people would delete her pictures, videos and audio recordings (as she said happened to other’s phones upon repair). I took the data chip (not the SIM) out of her phone to prevent this scenario.
On Monday, I set the itty bitty chip on top of Saturday’s preached message CD before taking her phone to be repaired. But, I have not been able to find the chip since. I suppose that I handled the CD and the stack of papers beneath it, and somehow did not notice the tiny chip sitting on top. There are a finite number of places it could be in a shuffling accident, and yet it’s nowhere to be found. The scope of possibilities now opens to the infinite, and I am resolving the ordeal by declaring it a loss.
I soberly petitioned God on the matter (as the chip contains priceless once-in-a-lifetime items), but see great gain for myself and for Ari in His will being this total loss. There is great humility in this utter defeat due to my hands being unacceptably palsied. I deserve to be scorned forever.
Please feel free to join and further the discussion via the options below. No email or website information is required to post comments (unless you seek the notifications offered).
I remember trying to pick you up after you wrote this letter, but it’s clear that I was missing out on what was really going on. At the time I thought you were too hard on yourself and didn’t like to see you so sobered. Sometimes we have to take the loss and the deep burn that comes with it. It’s tough to just accept it sometimes, especially when the price is paid by someone else, but in the end the produced fruit is worth it. Amen bro, I’m still eating off of this one. Love you
Hey T, I will never forget my one on one lesson at Downey Park about AJs found beer bottle. I was the worst fumble fingers in history and had no reverence for AJs treasures. Of all the things that have slipped out of my pea brain this one has stuck, though I must grow in it more and more. Love you, L.
I wish everyone has your sensitivity. I felt bad when this happened for both of you and Ari. I was thinking “treasure in heaven” but I saw the humility that it provides too. Amen for humility that you’ve showing me and others, if we don’t have that… we’ll be handed over to being clueless and worse yet, blaming others of our own defeats! (That is the easiest default.) I’m glad that you write this letter, I know I have fumbled many times and felt defeated; like left valuable stuff behind or messed up appointment dates. I hope everyone can join you in humility to own his/her own defeat :0)
Trent, the message “For My People” really helped me put in perspective how I can’t have “fumble fingers” when it comes to how I take care of my people. It is definitely easier said than done. But it is refreshing for me to read your experience with Ari because it encourages me that it can be done and done right. I have witness how you serve and take care of your people with dedication and devotion, so I know achieving this with my family is not far from my reach if I Iet God take over the wheel. Thank you for sharing this!