March 31 – “A tiny moment of chaos”

How’s this for a snippet of unexpectedness?  Last night Chris and I arranged with Nathan and April and Cailyn to come over and stay with Mom so Chris and I could go to the home of one of the Seaside folks for a brief evening out for the two of us and some adult conversation for Chris beyond going over ten or twelve times whatever Mom had written in her journal for the day.  Everything was going as planned as we pulled into the turn lane at Pirates Beach.  And then my phone rang.

It was our good friend Bryan, who lives in Alvin, about an hour away.  He had borrowed our truck the other day when they were in Galveston and he was suddenly called into work.  Seems he had started the truck up as he was preparing to leave for work and somehow managed to lock the door – without himself inside.  He wanted to know if I was at home so he could come down and get our spare set of keys.  Just as I started my recommendation to him, the phone service dropped the call.  I don’t know of it was on his end because he was out in the middle of nowhere in Alvin, or on my end because I was in the infamous West End of Galveston Island.  I tried calling him back but only got his voice mail.  I even tried calling his wife, but got no response there either.  My idea was to hook Bryan up with Nathan to see if between them they could work out a solution that wouldn’t involve a trip back and forth from Alvin.  Just as I was typing a text to her, Chris received a text from her, so she did the communicating with her while I called Nathan to put him on alert. 

As it turned out, by the time Nathan and Bryan made connections, Bryan was almost to the causeway.  Nathan had concocted a tool out of duct tape and wire he found in the garage to use as a slim jim of sorts, but since Bryan was already so close, Nathan agreed to drive out to where we were to pick up the keys from me.  To speed things up I jumped back into the car and drove to meet him halfway.  Meanwhile we had arrived at our destination, and in between texts and calls we were saying our hellos and explaining the situation.  Chris didn’t really know the folks very well, so she had to rely on her incomparable people skills to bridge the gap while I was gone. 

To make a long story shorter, Nathan got the key and went with Bryan up to Alvin.  He then drove the truck back down, so it is now back at its Galveston home.  Chris and I were able to spend an hour or so with our church friends.  Mom was safe and secure.  And Jesus is Lord.  Even in the tiniest of chaotic moments.

1 Corinthians 15:56-57 says, “The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Father, thank you for invading even our most annoying moments with your peace.  Amen.