Journal - Some Lessons

So we went to church this morning. When we got there, I pulled my phone out of my pocket to turn it off, as I always do before we go inside. Except that when I pushed the button, the phone turned on instead of off, and the low battery sound started chiming. I realized that my phone had gone dead and turned off at some point. The last time I had used it was Friday when Lion lady’s husband called me to say that his wife would call me sometime. I thought, “Great, she probably tried to call and my phone was dead.” I couldn’t check for messages right then because there wasn’t enough battery power left.

When we got inside and took our seats, Pastor Brian, one of the associate pastors, came over to talk to us. Pastor Brian always makes it a point to talk to us and ask for any updates on my situation. I told him that I had called Lion lady a couple of times but hadn’t heard back from her. I didn’t tell him that I let my phone go completely dead, though. He said that he would pray for God to urge Lion lady to respond in some way.

When we got home from church, I plugged my phone in right away to charge the battery. While it was plugged in, I went ahead and checked for messages but there was nothing; she still hadn’t called. I let the phone charge for a while, then unplugged it and set it back on the desk where I keep it.

It was only an hour or two later when my phone rang. It was the Lion lady. Lion lady does, by the way, have a name, but I’m not entirely sure if it would be appropriate to name her here. Anyway, she said that her husband had had back surgery and just came home from the hospital on Friday. I thought it was odd that he was the one who had called on Friday. She also said her grandson had been in the hospital. I felt bad because I had some unkind thoughts about her during the last week. I guess that is God’s way of reminding me not to be so quick to judge. Anyway, Lion lady said she had a packet of information for me and I could stop by and pick it up anytime. We’ll be in Gibbon on Tuesday for Adam’s dentist appointment so I said we would stop by Tuesday afternoon.

So what did I learn today? Letm e see: don’t be too quick to judge others. That’s been a little bit of a problem for me during the last couple of years. I get so caught up in feeling sorry for myself, that I sometimes forget that other people have problems too. God has to slap me upside the head sometimes and remind me of that. I also got a nice little reminder of the power of prayer. Pastor Brian said he would pray for a response, and by golly I got one, just a few hours later.

As I am writing this, another thought occurs to me as well. I’ve been praying for a response from Lion lady all week, but it was not until I shared my concern with someone else, and got that person praying as well, that God made something happen. I’ve heard Doctor Stanley talk about this on the radio. It is so important for others to pray for us, as it is important for us to pray for them. Prayer is a powerful thing, but when many members of Christ’s body come together toward a common purpose, that’s when miracles begin to happen.

And once again, God has used my blog to help me understand some things. I sat down here simply to report on what happened today, but in doing so, I now see that there was a lot more going on beneath the surface that I might have missed. Writing things down has proven to be a pretty good way to organize my thoughts.

James 5:16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.

Romans 8:26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.

Journal - The Plot Thickens

Okay, so we went to Brad’s house in Axtell today. The wheels have never made any noise at all since Joni cleaned them off with the hose yesterday, and they were perfectly quiet all the way to Axtell today. Brad went ahead and pulled off the front wheels to look at the brake pads and he said they look fine. Wow, what a relief! I’ve been wondering about my brakes anyway because it’s been 6 or 7 years since I had any brake work done on the truck and I didn’t really know how long pads are supposed to last. Anyway, that’s a big load off my mind.

Well, right in the middle of that last paragraph, my phone rang. It was the Lion lady’s husband returning my call from last Saturday. He had no idea who I was, just asked me if I was trying to get in touch with his wife. I reminded him that I’m the blind guy who’s been trying to reach her and then he remembered. He said she would call me but he didn’t know when, maybe tonight or tomorrow. Not quite the response I was looking for, but I’m glad someone finally called back. I haven’t yet received any response to my email from yesterday.

Oh, while we were at Brad’s, DJ stopped by. DJ is Brad’s daughter, my niece, and she’s just starting her second year at the University in Kearney. Every time I’ve seen DJ over the last year, she’s been trying to get a cell phone that she likes and that does all the things she wants it to. Today, she had a new one but she still wasn’t very happy with it. She’s funny. I like DJ though, she’s a good girl. And she plays the saxophone so that makes her pretty cool in my book. Also, Brad said that his oldest son, Daniel, got a job at the Baldwin’s factory in Kearney. Good news for Daniel because I’m sure that will pay better than Burker King where he was working before. Brad’s youngest son Taylor is in eighth grade this year and is playing quarterback on the football team like last year. Maybe Taylor will play for the Huskers some day, that would be awesome.

So the week ended on a high note. I sure needed that, it was a rough week. Once again, God has shown me that all my doubts and worries were for nothing. I thought I was going to end up with a huge repair bill for the truck, and it turned out to be fine. Okay God, I get it, you don’t have to rub my nose in it!

Hebrews 13:1-2 Keep on loving each other as brothers. Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing, some people have entertained angels without knowing it.

Dream Diary - Lost in the Parking Lot

Thursday night, I had another dream of being lost. At the beginning of the dream, I had just bought a new car. It was kind of a smallish, green car, similar to the 1997 Grand Am I used to own, but not quite.

I was driving my new car along a highway and started into a bend in the road. I was going too fast and the car began to skid. I was trying to steer out of the skid, but then the dream jumped forward.

Evidently I didn’t crash, because next I was at work. One of my supervisors from UPS was there, and a couple of other people I worked with but we were in something like a classroom with my supervisor at the teacher's desk. I don't remember very much of that part, but then it was time to go home.

I had parked my new car in a parking lot a few blocks away from work and here’s where the trouble began.

I got to the parking lot and started looking for my car, but I couldn’t find it. There were quite a few smallish green cars in the lot, but none of them were mine. On one side of the lot was something like an apartment building, and on the other side of that was more parking area. I went over there to look around and was disturbed to see that this lot looked very much like the other one. Well, that lot was connected to another one, and so on, and so on. All the lots looked the same, and they all had smallish green cars.

At one point, I ran into a guy I used to work with. I was happy because I thought he might help me, even though I didn’t know him very well. We started talking, but then he went over and started talking to some other people and forgot about me.

I spent some more time looking, and then ran into some other people I knew. It was a couple of my high school classmates, Craig Shiers, and his cousin Matt Shiers. I thought for sure they would help me, but again, they went off with some other people and left me there.

At one point, I pulled out my cell phone, thinking the battery would probably be dead. I was surprised to find it had a full charge and a strong signal, but I never used it. I couldn’t think of anyone to call who might be able to help me. I considered calling the police and reporting the car stolen, then just waiting for them to find it and call me back. I didn't though. The car was new and had no license plates, and I thought they probably wouldn't be able to find it because of that. There was also a brief moment when I didn't think I would be able to use the phone because I was blind, even though I could see perfectly well. The old blindness always seems to seep into my dreams.

So I just wandered from parking lot to parking lot, looking for my new car. Sometimes the neighborhoods seemed a little rough, with seedy looking characters lurking about. This frightened me, but they never bothered me.

Well, like I said before, I frequently have dreams where I feel lost and alone. This was just another variation on the theme. I wonder what the new car was about. Getting a new car and almost crashing it, then losing it. Two bad dreams in one week, yuck.

Matthew 7:7 "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.