Let Me Entertain You....

Several months back I was relating a story I had heard to Bro. Wood at church. I told him how Bro. Darryl Bennett had picked up a man on the way to my brother's church and ended up giving the man a Bible study which resulted in the man being baptized.

I mean, how awesome is that?

That Sunday Bro. Wood showed up with a visitor.

I was fascinated by this gentleman. Bro. Wood had picked him up and I began to talk to him and was intrigued by his apparent English accent. So I asked him where he was from.

He said he was from Douglas.

He had an intensity, and everything he talked about was so interesting that I was left wanting to hear more.

"Do you know, people think I'm crazy?" he said. I was afraid he may be more sane than most of us would ever be.

A few days later I saw him again at the bakery across the street from where I work. He was sitting alone at a table and I went over to say hello. He remembered my name and the names of the others at church.

And he began to tell me stories. One in particular was about the devil coming to his door one night when he was living in Tennessee.

I was enthralled by his stories, mostly because most of the world would listen to him and think, "What a nut!"

But, I guess I'm a nut enough to wonder, "What if it's true?"

I saw him several more times over the course of the next couple of weeks.

One morning when I arrived to work he was sitting on the curb outside my office. He had plugged his laptop into one of the outside plugs and was typing away.

He immediately began to tell me a story about one day when he was walking through town. He said he was down that day, thinking about everything and the Lord came up and put his arm around his shoulder and began to walk with him.

He said he asked the Lord what he was doing, and the Lord told him He just felt like he needed a hug.

Then he said the Lord told him He needed to leave because He had things to do and He was gone.

He looked up as the Lord left and he said the sky was full of angels. Thousands of angels.

I began to talk to him and I told him, "You know, that's what I want. I want to see the spiritual things that are going on around me. And I pray all the time that God would open my eyes to see things around me."

Then I said to him. "I want you to pray for me when you pray, that God will use me."

His eyes got big and he just stared at me for a minute. Then he smiled at me and said, "From your lips to His ears."

And he thanked me for wanting him to pray for me. He told me that I was a good woman.

I told someone about the incident and they voiced my thought on the whole thing. "I think he was an angel."

Maybe so. I will never know, I guess. I have only seen him once from a distance since that day, but I still think about him and the stories he told me.

And I know, believe me. I have been a nurse too long not to think "Ok, he is schizophrenic."

But, then the other side of me says...."But what if he was an angel."

The Word talks about us entertaining angels unaware. I believe in His Word and its there. So, that means it is true, it can happen.

And even if that was not the case in this instance it allowed me to believe in the possibilities.

I still long for Him to use me, to show me the things they saw in Biblical times when they believed in possibilities and saw those possibilities come to pass. I want that. I want to experience everything He has for me.

Thank You, my precious Saviour for reminding me again how great You are. I know if You did it before You will do it again. And I want to be a part of whatever You have!! I love You today more than ever. Thank You for loving me.

For One More Day

Several years ago I was called to jury duty and I brought a book in along with my car keys. These were the only things you were allowed to bring in.

I finished the whole book waiting to be called in. And it touched me in places that I have never been touched before.

But, there were places it didn't touch because those places weren't there yet.

We had an estate sale at my parents house last weekend. My daughter was in charge of gathering up stuff from our house to sell at the same time and one of the things she brought was the book.

I saw it laying amongst the stuff we were spreading out on tables and I grabbed it up.

"I don't want to sell this."

The book is called "For One More Day" by the author Mitch Albom.

It is a story about regret and the chance to right a wrong.

It is the story about a man who didn't fully appreciate what he had until he no longer had it.

It is the story about the love of a mother.

One line says, "...I realized when you look at your mother, you are looking at the purest love you will ever know."

The last time I saw my Mother she was sitting in a wheelchair at St. Pat's hospital in Lake Charles, Louisiana. She looked frail and tired and was on her way to dialysis.

I bent down and hugged her one last time and told her "I love you SO much."

And I walked away in the arms of my son, weeping because I knew it was goodbye. Not the last time I would speak to her, but the last time those arms that had held me countless times over the course of my life would ever hold me again.

A few days later I was in my office when my husband came in and closed the door.

"Your Mom is gone."

And suddenly I went from being the spoiled baby of loving parents to a grown woman with no parents at all.

Nothing has ever been the same.

Every day there is something I want to tell her. Every day there is something I want her to tell me.

Just for one more moment, one more hour, one more day.

There are so many things I want to make sure she knew.

She was a good mother. The best mother in the world. I can say that with all certainty because I know she loved us with all that she was. She would be the first one to tell you she wasn't perfect, but that is to be expected.

I can still hear her laughter echo in my heart, and her belief in who I am and what I was capable of was so strong it held me up at times. She was honest with me, more honest than anyone else has ever been. She had no problem telling me I was making a mistake and although some would resent that, I suppose, I needed that honesty knowing only someone who truly loved you would be that honest with you.

It has been 13 months since I last saw her face. 13 months since I heard her voice or felt her embrace.

What I would give for one more day.........

Life Lesson # 758

I had a very strange experience today. Leaving the church after prayer service I pulled out of the church drive onto the highway at a normal speed.

Ok....maybe I was a Grandma....

And this Tahoe came barreling over the hill.

Now there was NOTHING coming when I pulled out, but by the time I got on the highway and looked in my rear view mirror they were gaining on me at a rapid rate of speed.

So I punched it.

About the time I punched it I passed the exact spot that I saw my son laying crumpled at after he was hit by the truck.

And I was struck anew by how fast life can change, how precious life is.

I know when it happened I called my brother, but I didn't call anyone else until the next day because I knew how upset they would all be.

And upset they were. As sick as my mother was she wanted to come back here and take care of her boy.

So, this weekend something happened to me that should have made me really sad.

Now, I'm not going to say it didn't bother me, but probably not as much as it should have.

I have learned some very important life lessons in the past few years.

One was learned standing on the side of the highway looking down, and two more were learned standing by open graves. There are some things in life worth fighting for. Love is one of those things. And, boy....has my life been filled with great love.

I spent a good part of Saturday afternoon laying on the couch, alone in my parents house. Just thinking, remembering, and weeping for the loss of my wonderful parents. Letting go of the house seems like shutting a heavy door.

And as I came home I was blindsided by something that I still don't understand.

And I probably never will.

Today I was reminded how different my life could be this very second. I was reminded again what really matters, and what really doesn't.

I don't have time in my life for foolishness. I don't have time. Each and every day is ticking away and I refuse to be sucked into stupidness. Let me share something with whoever may happen upon this little blog of mine.

I learned some things in my life the hard way. It is the result of those hard lessons that I am the person I am today. Not the person I was 31 years ago. I have grown up, put away childish things, and realized I have a choice to make each and every day. My choice is happiness. My choice is happiness.......

Life Lesson # 758. Expect the unexpected. And then suck it up and keep on keeping on. After all, the sun is still shining, even behind the clouds.