September 14 – “Chariot of fumes”

The General tried desperately to arrange reconciliation.  He rooted out spies and mercenaries, but the more he found, the more were unveiled.  The task seemed endless, for each time he rested, they returned with even more forces.  It was as if he was tearing them off from a much deeper root system that simply grew a horrible replacement for the torn and missing body as soon as the attacks ceased.   When I left Bay City yesterday I was feeling pretty low.  Not just because I had to leave Chris again, but because I had to leave her there.  I was wondering how in the world Satan could get such a grip on a situation that all joy could be sucked out of a physical location.   Chris has been in there for over three months now.  It is strange.  It's like you lose all sense of time when you enter the house.  I wasn't even sure what day it was.  I can't even say they live from one event to the next, one meal to the next, unless maybe it's from one medication administration time to the next.  They rarely turn on the TV, so there is not much input from the "outside world."  And when it is on it is either the weather channel or Fox News political commentary.  Even mealtimes, always happy events at our house, are somber occasions required to sustain.    As I reflected on the situation and began praying for Chris to survive this next round, I pulled up at a stoplight behind one of those pickup trucks that had four wheels on the back instead of two.  It had 4 X 4 painted on the side, and even had spokes coming out of its wheels, just like Messala's chariot in the movie Ben Hur.  It was revving its engine, ready to go.  Next to it was a nondescript white car with the driver's side window down.  The driver was smoking a cigarette that for some reason seemed to be putting forth a lot of smoke.  Maybe he had been smoking with the window closed and just opened it, but there was kind of a cloud hovering around him.  I don't do well around cigarette smoke.  Makes my airways close up so I can't breathe.  It distracted me enough that I thought something along the lines of "I wish he would stop smoking or keep his window closed."  About that time the light changed and the big truck gunned the engine and took off.  But as he did, the location of his obviously souped up exhaust pipe caused a huge black cloud of those sweet-smelling diesel fumes to shoot right in the face of the smoker.  I know.  Neither driver was particularly in the right.  But it struck me as funny at first, then as a lesson.  A simple one.  One I really needed right then.  God has already won the war.  Satan will get his his just desserts – or diesel fumes – in the end.  Hang in there Chris.   1 Corinthians 15:57 says, "But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."   Father, come on with that victory.  The battles are tough.  Amen.