Monday, January 27, 2014

When life throws you a curve ball

The past two weeks have been interesting to say the least.  Two weekends ago I spent much of my time in bed or on the couch fighting a nasty cold.  Even though I'm feeling better I still have some cough due to drainage that makes it challenging to speak for long stretches of time.  Near the end of that week the heater motor went out in my old van.  Of course, like much of the nation, we are learning more than we ever wanted to know about polar vortex.  Not a good time to have no heat.  I tried to drive it as little as possible and pray the heater motor would kick on.  Sometimes it did, sometimes it didn't.

Monday, we got hit with another big snowfall.  Although I probably should not have done so, I went out to shovel the driveway before we drove over it.  I shoveled the back end of the driveway first and backed the vehicles down so I could do the top part.  When I started the van the heater came on.  Great!  It could clean off the windshield while I shoveled snow.  However, when I pulled the van back up and turned off the ignition the heater kept running.  The only way to shut if off was to unhook the battery cable.  What compounded that problem was that I had to use the van to haul items I was selling at auction on Saturday.  Friday was haul day, and this happened on Thursday.  I quickly called my garage and they were able to get it fixed.

That week the individual who was to provide food service for the auction called saying he could not do so.  He has had health problems and had to go in for a heart cath.  I quickly called some other auctioneers and got the name of another person who might be able to help.  She agreed to provide the food so another problem was avoided.

On Friday my grandson and I spent eight hours hauling items to the auction site.  Others joined us after they got off work and we spent another four hours setting up the auction.  Everything looked great.  That night we got hit with another blizzard that dumped more snow with some major drifting.  The temperatures plummeted.  We had no choice but to go ahead with the auction.  Only a couple of dozen people braved the weather to come (God bless them!), but it was definitely a buyer's market.  By the end of the sale my voice was almost completely gone and never really came back the next day either.  Lots of cough drops and water to keep everything moist.

As we were hauling on Friday the garage door on my wife's side of the garage threw its chain.  My garage door had not worked in about a month, but I was unable to have it fixed because my side was full of items for the auction.  I called the garage door company and was told they could not be here until Monday.  We had to manually raise my door to finish taking everything out to the van.  By this time we were really wondering if God was sending us a message.

Nobody was hurt.  No one was diagnosed with an incurable disease.  No one went bankrupt.  Throughout the weekend I wanted to keep everything in perspective.  A lot of people have much worse problems than I experienced.  But, when one problem after another starts piling on top of you it's easy to wonder what's going on.

Sometimes it seems all life does is throw you curveballs.  It can be somewhat suffocating at times, and it can get very easy to become discouraged and want to give up.  Many potential major league ball players never made it to the majors because they could not hit a curve ball, and some people never experience victory in life because they can't overcome the curve balls that come their way.

Jesus taught us that storms come into everyone's life, and when they come the only way to withstand them is by being firmly grounded on a solid foundation.  He is that foundation.  When I went to bed Saturday night I thanked God for a warm house, for good food to eat, for a family who loves me and one another, and for Jesus Christ who has promised to never leave us nor forsake us.  When I woke up Sunday morning I prayed the same prayer, and did so again this morning.  I am a blessed man and I owe that to my Lord and Savior.

Today, I have to wait for the garage door repairman, and while I am waiting I will make two phone calls to confirm information for a couple of bivocational conferences I'll be doing on the east coast in March.  I'll spend some time preparing for a conference call from a church's pastoral search committee later this week and for a meeting I will attend at Campbellsville University this week.  Life is good because Jesus Christ is Lord over all!

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