When Andrew and I arrived at the church on Sunday morning, we attempted to discover who would lead the service that morning. The Synod Assembly gathered all the pastors from the area, leaving churches to lay leadership. The bishop recorded a sermon on video, which Jon B planned to show on the screen. I asked him, "Are you the head honcho today?"
"Nope, just the projector man," he replied.
I had tapped Andrew to substitute for Daniel as Assisting Minister, since Daniel was playing softball out of town. Doug J, the lector, indicated he would rather not lead the worship. Very few of Svea's members feel comfortable up front, and even fewer at the last minute! Pete, obviously, is one, but with his gimpy leg the congregation would be pretty distracted if he were the leader. I could do it in between leading the praise team, but the congregation can't see me sitting at the piano. Finally, at 9:25, I informed Andrew that he would read the parts of the pastor as well as the assisting minister. We prayed, I made an announcement to that effect, and he began. He rose to the challenge and everything progressed smoothly - until the sermon.
A glitch in the laptop/projector setup caused the audio of the bishop's sermon to be, well, inaudible. The video worked fine, but since the congregation doesn't have a single lip-reader among us, that didn't do us much good. I thought furiously, picked up my microphone, and announced to the congregation, "I guess you get a sermon by...me!" I proceeded to communicate what I've been learning from Ann Voskamp's book, One Thousand Gifts, and how I've put it into practice. My heart was pounding and my breathing was shallow for the first minute, but as I realized that I might share all this stuff with any of these members at the coffee table, I settled in and finished in a reasonable amount of time (I think).
After Andrew's beautiful rendition of "Let My Lifesong Sing to You," I asked for prayer requests and led the prayers of the church. Andrew gave the benediction and we sang the closing song. Another worship service drew to a close; Andrew and I learned anew that the Lord will empower you to do whatever you need to do.
Showing posts with label unexpected events. Show all posts
Showing posts with label unexpected events. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 11, 2013
Sunday, April 21, 2013
Facing the Unexpected
We had a harrowing drive on Thursday evening. The public schools dismissed students two hours early, and numerous activities posted cancellations on the local radio station, so we checked the Minnesota highway website. The site reported "difficult driving" on a few roads, but mostly "fair driving" at 3:00 pm. Since we had driven without incident on several occasions when many activities were cancelled, and since it was April 18, Pete figured we wouldn't have a problem and we took off at 6:15 for Mankato, intending to arrive at Grizzly's at 8:30, be seated by host Joel and order food for when he got off work. After eating with him, we intended to drive on to Rochester for the homeschooling convention. Andrew came with us to attend the Teen Track.
The first three miles seemed moderately uncomfortable, but when we turned off Highway 7 on to County Road 44, conditions deteriorated rapidly. Drifting, blowing snow, ice, and snow stuck on to the roads so we couldn't see the lines slowed our progress to a crawl. However, Pete crawled a little too fast and we began slipping off the road where it curved east. Pete saw that we would lose this battle, so he turned into the skid as we all cried out to the Lord - "Help!!" Thanks to God, there was a road at an angle to the one we were on, and Pete gunned the van into the ditch and drove right up out of it onto that road. Unbelievable!
During the ensuing journey, we pulled another vehicle off the shoulder, saw a telephone wire down on the road, and spent twenty minutes tailing an ambulance with flashing red lights. I texted Joel at 9:00 (when his shift ended), "We are near New Ulm going thirty behind an ambulance. Call me." He admitted to being a little "freaked out" before he called and discovered that none of us were in the ambulance!
Our two-hour trip to Mankato ended up taking four hours. After consuming delicious appetizers, we ventured on to Rochester at greater speeds, arriving at 12:30 am. Pete says he's learned his lesson. We'll see.
The first three miles seemed moderately uncomfortable, but when we turned off Highway 7 on to County Road 44, conditions deteriorated rapidly. Drifting, blowing snow, ice, and snow stuck on to the roads so we couldn't see the lines slowed our progress to a crawl. However, Pete crawled a little too fast and we began slipping off the road where it curved east. Pete saw that we would lose this battle, so he turned into the skid as we all cried out to the Lord - "Help!!" Thanks to God, there was a road at an angle to the one we were on, and Pete gunned the van into the ditch and drove right up out of it onto that road. Unbelievable!
During the ensuing journey, we pulled another vehicle off the shoulder, saw a telephone wire down on the road, and spent twenty minutes tailing an ambulance with flashing red lights. I texted Joel at 9:00 (when his shift ended), "We are near New Ulm going thirty behind an ambulance. Call me." He admitted to being a little "freaked out" before he called and discovered that none of us were in the ambulance!
Our two-hour trip to Mankato ended up taking four hours. After consuming delicious appetizers, we ventured on to Rochester at greater speeds, arriving at 12:30 am. Pete says he's learned his lesson. We'll see.
Saturday, January 12, 2013
The Latest Cat Saga
For a couple of months, we've been complaining about the cats. In August 2011, Philip got two kittens from the Christopher family, naming them Toby and Tico. Turned out Toby was the girl and Tico the boy, but that didn't bother him. In fact, he was inspired to build a scratching post,
a cat house and a catwalk around the roof of the garage. They were sweet and cute and playful and spent some time indoors (a first for our farm family), and Toby started showing signs of expecting more kittens in the spring. While we vacationed in California, she gave birth - possibly to only one kitten, possibly to more who didn't live. Inbreeding, I suspected. Naranja, an (obviously) orange kitten, was sweet and cute and playful. Philip had lots of fun with him, as Tico had disappeared in a tomcat sort of way (he showed up once with a bullet in his leg, but once he could hop and leap about with only three legs, he was gone again). Soon Toby looked like a pregnant mama once again. We were not thrilled.
A few days before David's wedding, Naranja started acting very strangely, having what looked like seizures or choking. Within ten minutes he died in a crying Philip's arms. We buried him, consoled by the kittens to come. While we celebrated with the happy couple in North Dakota, the kittens arrived - five of them! They were sweet and cute and playful, but there were so many. Philip manfully named them all - Huck, Rex, Smoky, Gypsy and Padfoot.
We dealt with the litter training and taming - they really were fun. By bringing them to a 4-H meeting, we managed to give away two of the females, leaving us with Rex and Smoky, males; and female Gypsy. Philip decided he wanted to keep one kitten and Toby; we decided they would be fixed, so no more kittens would be spawned. At first we planned to keep Gypsy, but Rex soon endeared himself to us as a calmer, friendlier cat, so we settled on him. Alas, it was not to be.
On Wednesday, Pete and I returned from a meeting at church to find the dogs barking at Rex. Whether Rex was being a male and bristling, whether the dogs smelled something else on him, or whether there was some other explanation, we don't know. Pete drove to the mailbox, and when he parked in the garage, he heard Rex meowing under the van. Did the dogs shake him and break his spine, or did he race under the vehicle and get run over? In either case, he had no control over his hind section. He didn't appear to be in pain as he quietly lay in the laundry room, and died about an hour later, as Pete was preparing to put him down.
Philip and I cried over Rex, and realized that we really don't want to see the cats dead, as we had been joking about. We're not complaining about the cats now. How often we take things for granted, when nothing is for certain in this life. Thanks be to God that He is certain, and so is the next life!
A few days before David's wedding, Naranja started acting very strangely, having what looked like seizures or choking. Within ten minutes he died in a crying Philip's arms. We buried him, consoled by the kittens to come. While we celebrated with the happy couple in North Dakota, the kittens arrived - five of them! They were sweet and cute and playful, but there were so many. Philip manfully named them all - Huck, Rex, Smoky, Gypsy and Padfoot.
On Wednesday, Pete and I returned from a meeting at church to find the dogs barking at Rex. Whether Rex was being a male and bristling, whether the dogs smelled something else on him, or whether there was some other explanation, we don't know. Pete drove to the mailbox, and when he parked in the garage, he heard Rex meowing under the van. Did the dogs shake him and break his spine, or did he race under the vehicle and get run over? In either case, he had no control over his hind section. He didn't appear to be in pain as he quietly lay in the laundry room, and died about an hour later, as Pete was preparing to put him down.
Philip and I cried over Rex, and realized that we really don't want to see the cats dead, as we had been joking about. We're not complaining about the cats now. How often we take things for granted, when nothing is for certain in this life. Thanks be to God that He is certain, and so is the next life!
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