July 11 – “From the sky ...”

Warning: Cuteness overload.  One of the little bitty girls who is watched over often by Chris in the nursery approached her after church.  Smiling shyly and ever-so sweetly, she handed her a page from a coloring book.  She had obviously been working hard all through the service to get Mickey and Minnie Mouse done just perfect.  She said, “Here.  This is for you.”  Aw.  Of course Chris did the usual amount of encouraging and gushing and praising over her color selection and application.  And when Chris finished, the precious little one, with a toss of her hand in my general direction, added (Her emphasis, not mine), “It’s for HIM, too.”  I am so happy to be HIM in cases like this.  It is important to be remembered.  Thank you, Elena.

We did our three miles again yesterday.  When we “recovered” from that exertion, I decided to mow the grass.  And before I could finish, the clouds started rolling in.  That’s not necessarily a bad thing, you know.  They bring welcome relief from the unfettered sun.  But when the air itself begins to cool and the wind begins to pick up, you know something extra is on its way.  So I made an attempt to speed up.  Put it in hyper-drive, in fact.  I discovered that self-propelled lawn mowers really can’t go any faster than what they are programmed to go. 

Chris came out onto the front porch at one point and yelled something at me.  And she kept pointing at the sky.  Well, I knew a thunderstorm was imminent.  There was really nothing I could do about that.  So I smiled and pushed harder, now almost running as I strained against the mower controls.  Finally I completed the task.  Before the rain fell, I might add.  Oh, I never got around to weedeating or sweeping, but the yard was mowed, so that was a win. 

As I put the lawn mower back in its place inside the shed, Chris joined me.  She had been waiting to tell me something.  See, when she came out on the porch, it wasn’t to tell me that it was about to rain.  Why, no.  And she hadn’t been just broadly indicating the threatening skies.  Nope.  She told me that she had been pointing to a particular cloud bank.  The one that had begun swirling into tornadic shape.  A funnel cloud, dropping down and then returning into the sky.  Oops.  Misread that one, didn’t I?  She just wanted to make sure I wasn’t swept away into the tornado and whisked to Oz for an adventure without her.  Nope.  Can’t get rid of me that easily, my dear.

James 4:7 says, “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”

Father, thank you for protecting me while I mowed.  And thank you for Elena.  Help her to grow in mind, body, and spirit to know you better and better.  Amen.