August 23 – “Telephone tennis”

What more?    The very next day that same compassionate one arrived again, this time with her husband.  He called us aside and in a quiet, gentle voice he said, "We have a dwelling not far from here.  It is not on Greater Island, but it is close.  We offer it to you for the use of your family for as long as you need it.  And please, do not offer to pay.  We are humbled to make the offer.  The Great One Who Rules Even Queens has been very good to me.  You need it right now.  I do not."   I thought I was getting good at this whole texting thing.  We have a plan with unlimited texting, so virtually all of the communication between Chris and I since she has been at her Mom's has been by texting.  One of my sons even switched it over to some mode where it guesses what I might want to say next and puts that word up on the screen.  It gets it right every now and then, but most often it just sounds like nonsense.  I don't use that feature very much.   The other feature it has automatically selects the most likely letter out of the three possibilities on the phone pad.  Yes, I still have one of those really old fashioned phones where the pad actually looks like a telephone, with each number representing three letters.  So all I have to do is push the button that has my letter in it, and the little man inside decides which of the three letters to pop onto the screen.  He's getting better.  If he doesn't get my word at all after a few tries, he gives up and lets me type it in the old way, one push for the first letter, two for the second, and three for the third.  I can see why they full keyboard phone is so hot.    I texted Chris this afternoon and told her I was going to take a break, and then cut weeds in the abandoned yard next door.  At least that's what I thought I typed.  Come to find out there is a code word for "then."  The little guy inside typed out "teen" instead.  So Chris got very excited and wanted to know who the teens were cleaning up the yard, and were they going to haul off the downed trees.  Miscommunication.  Gotta be careful to read what I think I write.   My favorite times are when she is sequestered in the bedroom and can "talk" back and forth.  It's kind of like playing telephone tennis.  She types something, then I have to respond to that one so she can respond to what I type.  And on and on.  The problem comes when I think of something to say before she answers.  Then I send another out and that means I'm ahead of her.  Then she answers the first one and I've already forgotten what it was she was responding to.  Or when I send a text when she can't see her phone, so it sits for awhile.  Then she gets it and responds.  That was hours ago.  I have to check the "sent" file to see what I said so what she said will make sense.  Telephone Tennis.  Fun game.   Colossians 1:17 says, "He is before all things, and in him all things hold together."   Father, thanks for keeping it together.  The world.  The church.  Our family.  Amen.