Quite a Day

I wish I had a pedometer. I walked so much today, it would be interesting to see how far I went. I spent quite a bit of time this afternoon walking between my office, the shipping dock, the front office and the work area. I was doing the “legwork” to solve a couple mysteries. I had questions and no one in house had answers. But tenacity and openness paid off and I got all my answers!

I want to report that I have been practicing and working on the forklift. I’m still having trouble judging, but I’m getting better. Yesterday I confronted one of my fears and pulled a top stack pallet. It seemed so high up there. I sat and looked at the stack and prayed. It felt so good to accomplish that. With that feeling under my belt I decided to try something else that I had been afraid to do. I decided to try and put a basket in the stand. Sounds really easy, but it’s a struggle for even experienced forklift drivers at work. I needed a lot of spotting, but I did it! Yay!

There was a kind of dark cloud at work today. Remember the other day when I went to the shipping guy, B, who was filling in for the production manager, Ed? B is a hoot. He’s always playing tricks. He has a wonderful sense of humor and is pure orneriness. B's wife (a beautiful woman according to the picture on B’s desk and well-liked by everyone who knew her at the plant) has been battling with breast cancer for the past 7 years. Last night she finally lost the fight. My heart just aches for B. I never met his wife but I saw his eyes light up when he talked about her. The whole day I just wanted to drive out to Nelson’s work site and give him a great big hug and kiss. Instead I fixed his favorite dinner and baked chocolate chunk brownies. Sometimes it’s better to show it than just to say it.

It reminds me of a time in the last church I pastored. There was a man who had lost two wives to cancer. When he married the third woman she agreed to have a physical prior to getting married. They were quite cute together. They were married a couple months when it was discovered that she too had cancer. For a while she was in remission. They were older, in their 70’s. Their love was so obvious. They would winter in Florida and come back to our Ohio town for the summer. Her last spring the cancer came back with a vengence. They came home for a visit.

At the end of the service, people were filing out, shaking my hand and tell me how they liked the sermon. The man walked up and asked for prayer for his wife. What would you have done? There were still many people in the sanctuary, milling and talking. I gathered them together. We huddled around the couple and we prayed. I remember in that prayer praying, begging God for a miracle…even if that miracle was helping us to accept the death of this woman. I prayed that we would understand healing, and how it’s not always what we want or expect. I prayed that no matter what happened that no one, not one person, would question God, his power or his love. It was one of those times where I got lost in the praying—where I really believe the Spirit was doing the job of directing the prayer.

After she died the man sold his house and moved away. He came back to visit and he talked to me about how powerful that time, that prayer had been to both of them. I’m glad. I’m glad there was a nudge in my back and thump on my heart that prompted me to move beyond the conventional hand shake and lame promise to pray. When someone asks for prayer I pray right then. What do you do?

Would you do me a favor? Will you, right now, right there at your computer, invite the God of all comfort and consolation to envelope Buddy and his kids, and his family? They’re confused and hurting right now. Will you pray that God will keep their hearts tender and that they will find Him to be a God who will be with them in their pain, and who can not only handle, but answer all their questions?

Thanks