No More Smooth Sailing

A couple of weeks ago I heard John MacArthur say that when he isn't in the middle of a trial he gets worried because he knows one is on the way. Instead of thinking, "Wow! There's a pessimistic thought!" I remember thinking, "Uh-oh! This fair sailing weather is going to be changing soon!" Experience has taught me that MacArthur was right.

I hadn't long to wait for the foul weather to find our boat and end all smooth sailing. Hurricane season hit about a week ago.

• The little gusts began blowing when the Princess sent me a message last Sunday saying Fen was developing a cold and that she was keeping him home. Before the week was out his cold had grown into a full-blown illness of high fevers, vomiting, and lethargy. After a horrible week he is now on the mend and I feel certain we'll eventually get that awful smell off of the car seat upholstery.
• Pastor Dad mentioned that he felt like he had a kidney stone. So far he hasn't had enough pain to warrant a call to the doctor but I've been on alert. Who knows when it might decide to move again and if the pain will become unbearable? He has been drinking, drinking, drinking lots of water and homemade lemonade. That's all we know to do to help it on its way.
• The Bear twisted his ankle at basketball practice and spent several days propped up in the easy chair playing video games. It has been tough on him but he's bearing this burden well. :) He's not real fond of crutches, though. We started wrapping his ankle and foot in an Ace bandage after the swelling went down so now he has begun hobbling around on 2 legs instead of 4.
• Then there's Polly. I don't even want to tell you about the knock-out punch a bedside table gave her so I'll steer you to Karen's rendition of the events here. I'll just add that my blood ran cold when I answered the phone and my daughter calmly petitioned, "Mom, can you come down? I've got a bit of an emergency." I didn't stop long enough to ask about the nature of said emergency. I just complied. I've used the analogy before of the Grinch sliding down Mount Crumpet to describe what the winding road is like between our house on the hill and their house in the valley when there is snow on the ground, but now I can honestly say that no snow is required for the analogy to apply.

We're weathering the storms pretty well but that's because we know the Master of the Wind. Our house is built upon the Rock! Nothing comes our direction that He can't handle.