Friday Excitement

This morning our phone rang at 7:00am. Not that's not extremely unusual, but I still hold my breath expecting the worst.

It was my neighbor telling me that another one of our neighbors had an ambulance and two police cars in front of it and her son had seen them putting someone in the ambulance on the stretcher.

So we prayed. We couldn't clearly see the activity from our house, but we could see that the ambulance drove off and the police cars were still there. Not a good sign.

After the kids were off to school and the little ones settled, I pulled a Mrs. Cravitz...there I admitted it. I pulled out my binoculars so I could see better. THIS IS NOT A REGULAR OCCURRENCE! I do NOT spy on my neighbors!!! Just wanted to establish that fact.

This is what I saw...

No details yet, except that the driver got out of his car on his own and was not seriously injured.

The interesting thing to me is that I was relieved that it wasn't anything wrong with our neighbors. Unfortunately, it didn't seem strange to me that the police would be in front of their house. It made me wonder if I should be doing anything more to reach out to them - to show Jesus to them - to love on them.

I've really been thinking a lot about seeing with eyes like Jesus. I have found myself driving around town almost in tears as I look at people. People are so lonely, so sad, so scared, so hopeless.

When Mike said he felt called to be a pastor, I went along. After all, I was called to be his wife. But I really didn't feel like I was called to be a pastor's wife. I'm still not sure about that one, but I am catching his passion to introduce people to my friend, Jesus. To the one who doesn't take away all our problems or consequences, but promises to be with us always - even in our consequences.

With that in mind - two cool "Yeah God" stories.

Story #1:

I met a gal online a couple of months ago. I know that in itself sounds a bit creepy and I'm sure some in my family are quite alarmed. Let me reassure you that I operate under two assumptions. One, everything she says is a lie and two, never give out personal information. Okay, so I told her I lived in Montana, but it is a big state!!! (side note: it is amazing how much information people give out when they chat. I was actually able to locate where she lives - if she is telling the truth and not just pretending to be the person I found.)

Okay...I am so off track! Anyway, she has three children - two of them preschoolers. Her family recently moved and she was talking about how lonely she was and how she didn't have any friends. I asked her if she would be interested in a MOPS group. I explained what MOPS was and she agreed to give it a try. I asked for her zip code only and then looked up the nearest group. I talked to the coordinator and found out that the group is acting in line with MOPS mission (not a bible study, but not a gossip group either). I then passed the info on to my new friend. Well, long and confusing story shortened, she went to MOPS yesterday and loved it!!! She said the ladies were wonderful. She got to chat with other adults, drink coffee, and her girls had lots of fun too. When I got online to check in with her, she started by just saying, "ty, ty, ty, ty!!!" It was kind of neat to know that God connected us and hopefully will connect with my new friends as well. "Yeah God!"

Story #2:

We have been without a full paycheck for about 4 weeks. The paycheck is coming, but there were details to be ironed out first. So while there is hope on the horizon, things have been a little tight. As much as I complain about Dave Ramsey, I really am grateful for his financial wisdom. Because we were budgeting, when our vehicle registration came due this week to the tune of $335.00, we had $335.91 in the transportation account to pay the bill. "Yeah God!"

When we received a partial paycheck, we followed another principle and took care of the necessities - paid for groceries and gas in the vehicles, the electricity, the gas, the phone. We had money to pay for choir for Mikalah and $10.46 left over. Usually that would freak me out, but it isn't. God has provided for exactly what we need. "Yeah, God!"

Now there was the small detail of some credit cards and a loan that needed to receive their payments as well. Before they were due, we called the companies and explained that we were going about four weeks without a paycheck. Those crazy, money-hungry credit card companies were so nice. The gave us two months off. We still accrue the interest, but they will not charge us any extra fees and will not raise our very low interest rates. The only bad thing, they say, is that it will close our account. Oh well, what they don't know is that as soon as it is paid off we were closing the account anyway! And I suspect that they will contact us after the new year offering us to come back - that we are valued customers. I've received that offer before. I'm not falling for it this time! "Yeah, God!"

I am so thankful that God is always with me!!! He leads the way, and stays with me when I fall off the path, gently leading me back, mending my cuts and bruises along the way. Thank you, God!