I had two really exciting things happen
yesterday. One involved a baby. Little Haisley Anderson was born way, way
early in an emergency C-section. Mom is doing
great, and Haisley seems to be doing well, too.
At least as well as a two pounder can be doing. She was transferred to UTMB’s special care
unit for premature babies. That’s where
the exciting part for me comes in. I
went down there to see if any family members were around. None were, so I asked the receptionist if I could
go in and pray for Haisley. It took some
doing, including a phone call to Daddy for his approval and dousing my arms
with that antiseptic soap, but they let me back on the unit. Haisley is on a ventilator, but is doing some
breathing on her own. She also reacts
with a noticeably higher heart rate when people are around and talking to her,
so she is responding well to stimuli. It
was quite an honor to gently stroke her head and hand as I prayed for her and
her Mom. The team of medical students
also asked me to “bless us, too.” Great experience.
The second event is most definitely a
milestone. It relates to the abandoned
house next door to us. The level of
human activity increased dramatically last week. Chris talked to several of them … shortly before
they threw up. The stench had become
unbearable inside the house. But they
assured Chris that they were working for the “Demo Guy,” and that the house was
indeed set to be torn down. Sure. We have heard that before. Even when the Demo Guy himself showed up Sunday
and said it would be gone by next week, Chris said she would believe it when
she saw it and not a moment before. It didn’t
take long, though, for another team of men to arrive and start removing some of
the bigger items from inside the house.
Again, we have seen plenty of that over the last four and a half years
as well. But then that team started
removing the windows. And the back
door. Now that looked like progress.
Then yesterday the Demo Guy knocked on out
front door. Come to find out I went to Grace
Episcopal Church with him when we were little kids. I talked to him about where he was in his
walk with God now, and he said he hasn’t been to church in many years. He did seem fascinated by the fact that I was
a “priest” at a church in Jamaica Beach, but the church wasn’t Episcopalian. I encouraged him to pay us a visit sometime,
and left the door open for further conversations. That’ll be another guy for my prayer
list. Anyway, Phillip was knocking to
let us know that the big truck and the demolition machines were about fifteen
minutes away. Chris leapt into
action. She called to let Jachin, Micah,
and Josiah know about their next field trip to see a house torn down. Cailyn was already here. It would be a real event to behold.
And indeed it was. The huge excavator smashed into the roof time
and time again with its massive claw.
And the operator was a master. I
was amazed at the intricate actions he was able to take. He picked up every scrap of metal that they
would redeem for special prices and placed it in a separate pile. He even used an old mattress as a mop head to
wipe clean the concrete slab. When all is
said and done, the estimate is that it will take four truck loads to carry it
all away. As I type the third has driven
away and the excavator is finer tuning the last pile. He hasn’t started breaking up the slab yet, but
that is supposed to happen as well.
Looks like by this time tomorrow we will have a great vacant lot next
door. I would love to buy it and have an
extra big yard. We could put in a garden
for the kids to work in. I don’t know
how much it would cost, though. I don’t
even know who to ask. Of course I don’t know
where the money would come from, either.
But, hey, a guy can dream, can’t he?
Psalms 61:4-5 says, “I long to dwell in your tent forever and take refuge in the shelter of
your wings. Selah. For you have heard my vows, O God; you have
given me the heritage of those who fear your name.”
Father, thank you for little babies and big
excavators. Amen.
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