First and foremost, being out of the house and crowded into a small space with many others has shown all of my faults in glorious detail. My inclination to shirk my duties; my short temper and lack of patience; my need to be in control and my need for constant attention; and so on, and so forth. I don't feel like I'm doing a stellar job at being the "man of the house" out of my house. (Not that I do all that well in my own house, either, but at least there I have a little more room and a smaller audience.) I don't think I'm awful (though you'd have to ask my wife and rest of the family for the goods on that front), but I'm certainly not towing the line like I ought to be.
On the other hand, at least I'm not yelling about how the Government is trying to enact marshal law in the mountain communities and demanding that I be let back into my home even if I'm going to hamper emergency services and bring great risk upon myself and others by doing so. I know people's emotions get wrung out during such times (trust me, I know—see above), and we're all desperate to get a look at our property. But patience, people. Patience.
Not much else to report at this stage—I just wanted to pop in and update those of you perusing the blog. We're still sitting tight in Cherry Valley; this next week. I'll have to make some attempt to actually do my job once again, no matter what. I'm going to head back to the temporary homestead now and see if I can't better myself at least a bit before lunch.
3 comments:
Michael;
I have thought of you and your family all week. My son reminded me Wednesday just how fleeting our lives can be and how important it is to make every moment count.
He had a rough week enduring military craziness and by Wednesday he'd had "three Mondays in a row." He plays bass guitar in the worship band and following Wednesday night worship, he sat down next to a family. The pastor announced that family needed the prayers and help of the congregation as the dad had gone to work at the elevator that day, and it had exploded, killing him. The children arrived home from school to find they no longer had a dad.
Ryan said that every bad or sad thing that had happened to him that week completely faded away upon the realization that others had it far worse than he did.
I have had you and the others in your area on my mind and in my prayers all week, knowing that it has to have been an amazingly challenging time for all of you. Your situation has made any negative thing that cropped up in my life seem insignificant.
I am finding that in all things giving thanks changes my ability to be the Christ follower I am called to be, even the things that are hard. I know your family is dealing with a boatload of stress right now, but I for one, am grateful you are alive and able to go to work this week. If this hardship has exposed areas you need to submit to God, at least you are aware; that is half the battle.
I don't believe that God ever puts us in situations like this to test us, however He is certainly able to use them to expose our frailty and our need for Him if we allow Him that freedom. It sounds like you have done that, and are heeding His voice.
I will continue to lift you up in prayer, and believe His perfect plan will unfold in His time. Isn't it wonderful to know He cares for you?
TM
Hey fellow temporary homeless person,
Um. Glad your house is ok.
Lessons. I don't know if I've learned any from this experience yet. Fo chizzle it's been out of the ordinary. I don't think I've learned lessons so much. Rather, it has been a shifting in my center. Nothing trite. I HOPE it is a shift in the God direction. It is a shift toward acceptance of every "gift" God brings. I'm sure this would be much more profound if I had lost anything big, like a house. But I haven't. I've lost nothing in this week. Just my routine. And I don't miss it.
I wish for you, during evacuation time, a loss of things you don't really need or want or will miss when they are gone.
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