...I forgot that I prayed for patience

There must be some things that are 'time release' when it comes to the Holy Spirit.

I recall asking for more patience at one time or another and then I learned that my prayer was not such a good idea. Everything that irritated me hit me at the same time for about a week until things calmed down to a relative madness and then finally went back to normal.

I don't pray for patience.

However, these past few days have been a lot like the aftermath of that original prayer. Dianna got robbed, my Pastor got irritated with me, someone else announced their 'presence' in a way that totally surprised me, and there were a few other things that don't bear repeating that made the whole end of the week a minor disaster. What is it about trouble anyway? It always seems to come in packs like wolves, surrounding us and moving in for the 'kill'.

It's a good thing that we have God on our side. I hate to think of the outcome otherwise.

...in the twinkling of an eye

My wife was the victim of a robbery today.

She had gone shopping for me. I had asked her to look for some slacks at the thrift store we like that carries a good supply of clothing in our sizes. She was on her way to get an overdue oil change anyway, so I thought it would be alright to ask for the small favor while she was out and about on a Saturday afternoon.

As she was looking at some of the items in the store a lady came up to her and asked if it would be alright if she reached across her shopping cart to get to a coffee cup on a shelf on the other side of the cart. My wife accommodated her and didn't think anything else about it until she was checking out and reached into her purse to get her wallet. It was gone. She realized that it had been a ruse all along and the lady had used the excuse of reaching for the coffee cup to get into her purse and steal the wallet.

When I called, she was on the verge of tears. I felt so helpless. I was all the way across town and about to leave for a banquet. I had telephoned to tell her that I was leaving for the scheduled event and to see if she had been successful in her search for slacks. The voice on the other end of the line sounded a lot like a small child that was lost at the circus and didn't know which way to turn or who to talk to.

Do you know how hard it is to notify Credit Card companies on a Saturday afternoon? How about Banks?

It is astounding to think of just how many people are victimized on a given day as they leisurely go about their day...totally unsuspecting and vulnerable to the snakes that lurk right under our noses ... so closely, so seemingly calm and harmless, but in fact, they are wolves in sheep's clothing planning every evil under the sun.

Needless to say, there have been better Saturdays around here.

...the hours keep running past

It seems as though I don't have enough time to get things done.

I look at my schedule of late, and wonder how I ever got so many things going all at once. Do you ever look at your timetable that way?

My friends are busy too. They call and cancel appointments just so they will have time to make other appointments. What is more important? I can't quite figure it out, so I think I'll set another appointment to check on what time would be best to schedule a meeting to go over the calendar I set up to keep up with all of my appointments. Yep, that's what I'll do alright. You know, there just nothing like being well organized.

...and then came sorrow

I had been so happy; content with the fact that one of my children was coming out of a lifestyle that I had endured for twenty-five years before the Lord saw fit to deliver me.

Many times I had fallen back into the pit and had to crawl back out more filthy than the time before; taking longer and longer each time to get cleaned up.

Finally, one day the tide turned and I was free. God had been patient and waiting for the light to come on and I found my way out of the darkness and into the light. It was a combination of God's mercy and an answered prayer. I had prayed for 'someone to love me for who I am; not for what I can do for them or any other reason but that they love me'. I added a fleece to the end of the prayer and asked for a son.

Little did I know that within two weeks of that prayer I would meet Dianna and her three year old son, Michael. Her eyes were the color of a high mountain lake and I stood there mesmerized looking into the beauty of them wondering where she had been all my life. Some twenty-seven years later we are still looking into each other's eyes the same way.

But today I returned to sorrow for a time. I learned that our daughter has fallen back into the pit. We got word from her brother that she didn't even recognize him when he arrived at her apartment today.

I was on my way to church when the phone rang; Dianna's phone. I almost didn't answer it but I thought that it might be important and so I hurried over to her desk and pushed the button to open the line and said "Hello". Our Daughter-in-law was crying and it took me a minute to understand what she was trying to tell me.

I went downstairs after I hung up, trying to decide whether or not to tell my wife before or after service. I chose 'before'. I could see her countenance change as I relayed the information about our daughter. It pained me to have to tell her, but I wasn't keeping it from her any longer than I had to. Bad news is best delivered fresh. It 'burns worse' the longer it waits.

We passed along the report to our Pastor and some of the congregation as we arrived and the atmosphere of the evening went from light to heavy.

But thank God for friends. Before the service was over we had renewed strength and a real sense of purpose about it all. Prayers went up and our faith regained it's edge.

I find it intriguing how close God stands to his children in time of need. We could have lost hope and wallowed in pity, but the words that were spoken turned our hearts toward the Master and the hope returned in an instant.

I don't know what will happen next. I only know that when we needed help, when we needed to be reminded that we are not in this alone and without resources, there was God.

"I will never leave you nor forsake you..."

We are the ones that leave him, and for what? How can we be so dumb?

I look at what is going on in our daughter's life right now and see myself those many years ago.

I had it all right in front of me and I still walked away from God's protection and right back into the pit.

I was rescued but many of my friends were not. What made the difference? Why was I spared while they perished?

Which way will it go for her?

...just us chickens

I can't believe that I'm up so early, again.

It seems as though I am getting up in the middle of the night more often than I have ever done before. My eyes open and sit up on the side of the bed and the next thing I know I'm sitting in my chair writing a blog. Or I'm reading or I'm working on a website. This is different. I used to roll over and go right back to sleep but for some odd reason I have to get up and do something for at least an hour or more. They say that your tastes change every seven years. I wonder if your sleeping habits do as well? It wouldn't surprise me a bit if that was true and by the way, who is 'they'?

'They' said this and 'they' said that. Where did we get such a statement?

I am , however, making some progress at this hour. There are certainly no distractions to speak of. Unless someone else is up at this unusual hour.

How do you deal with the interruptions of your sleep? There is probably a study of some kind about this very subject. And they're probably getting good money to do it. Stimulus money to study the stimulus of sleep, or the lack there of.

...tick, tick, tick.

Here I sit at 2:53 Am. I had a wonderful day and a great evening with my wife and then off to bed.

But not too long after I should have gotten to that place where one begins that deep restful slumber, I am prompted to put down some new ideas that are rattling around inside my mind like clothes in a laundromat dryer. Go figure. How do you turn off the "tap" when it's 3 o'clock in the mornin' and you can't sleep? I don't think I really want to, truth be told. If the ideas weren't coming I'd be restless and wondering why I was going through a dry spell. Go figure.

When you actually stop to think about it, there is really not much time left. The Word says that we will see 'signs' at the end of the world as we know it, that will tell us of 'the end' and how to recognize it's arrival. Maybe that's why I do this so often; sit up and write or design or sing... or pray.

What do you do in the middle of the night when you can't sleep?

...one foot in front of the other.

The sky looks as sleepy as I feel.

Somehow I have gotten into the pattern of getting up earlier than I am used to. The usual rolling over and going back to sleep after a long day isn't an option this Saturday morning. I have three appointments to make and then we're due for rehearsal at the church sometime after that.

Yawn...stretch...yawn again. Okay, what's the address again?

To top off all of the hustle and bustle, my phone is off. Yeah, can you believe it? We have kept a phone going all this time with practically no money and just when we are getting a chance to step out of the 'hole' we found ourselves in a few months back the bill comes due before the finances are in place to cover it. Now I wouldn't ordinarily admit to such a calamity but I think that the situation bears scrutiny because I know it will be taken care of by the head bookkeeper, Jesus, my Lord. I read somewhere in the Word that if I take care of God's business first that he will take care of me, so I know that I'm in line for a blessing. And what better blessing than to be able to communicate better through the use of a modern convenience that reaches out to anyone and everyone all across the country at will? Yep, I expect my phone to be back in service very soon.

My friend is launching his new book this week. It's called "Choices" by James Willcox. The plot is a wonderful story of how a person can really show his or her love toward another human being in the most trying of circumstances. At first I wondered about it, putting myself in the main character's place. What would I have done? Don't miss this chance to get some terrific insight into my friend's perspective on love.