On the Rocks

It seems like a preponderance of loved ones are currently on the injured list. Our beloved agility mentor Polly has a badly broken wrist. She broke it the day we were to take her kayaking, before we showed up, I might add. Another friend is due any day to go in for a double mastectomy. And then poor dear sister Amy is back in the hospital with the second flare up of her pancreas in two weeks and on day 4 of no food. She advanced from being allowed just ice chips, to ice chips and water yesterday. That is her Memorial Day feast and she is not happy about it. And always there are our old friends in the Nursing home, who are waiting for a break in the ever present thunderstorms so I can take them to a "real steak restaurant." (We are scheduled for Thursday.0 I lay in bed last night thinking over all the aging, hurting, injured loved ones in my life and said out loud, "Help."

I feel guilty admitting I had a nice day kayaking with Arvo and Asherel and friend Josh on a lake I had never visited before. Oh sure, we got yelled at by the lake police, but it was not for a felony. They did speak harshly to us as though it were, however. We did the unthinkable crime of swimming in the lake. Yes, hardened criminals that we were, we actually dipped into the water on the 90 degree day. Good thing our government is so well funded that they can catch criminals like us. I think that alone should persuade congress to raise the debt ceiling. If 40 % of government services were cut back should they not raise the debt ceiling, who will apprehend the children swimming in the county lakes? Later we saw those same clever police pulling over a boat. They actually had red flashing lights on their police boat and moored themselves to the offending family of holiday boaters. I was not sure what the family had done, but I think they had been suspected of plotting to swim in the lake.

We kayaked to the middle of the lake where there was a picturesque cluster of large rocks. They were more picturesque from a distance, because up close it was clear that the rocks were used as the Latta Lake Goose Latrine. However, it was quite stunning, those big rocks sticking up in the  middle of the smooth blue water. We discovered as we kayaked that throughout this apparently shallow lake,  rocks lurked just below the surface. As I was in my inflatable kayak, I had to pay close attention, since a sharp rock could slice through my kayak.

This lake is just like life! It is very very beautiful from a distance. Serene even, surrounded by peaceful forests, quietly lapping water against pristine shores, rocks jutting in perfect composition to the whole delightful panorama. But then when you get down to the nitty gritty, to the actual navigating across that bucolic scene, you hit submerged rocks, goose poop, and are not allowed the relief of the cool waters.
Life is never smooth and never easy for long.

The apostle Paul was shipwrecked on rocks once. His fellow shipmates wanted to try to escape on lifeboats, or kill the prisoners the boat was carrying to justice, or save the heavy load of food . Most were succumbing to despair. But Paul told them not a single one would be lost to the sea and the rocks if they would just trust in his God. He urged them to cut away the lifeboats, throw the food overboard, and stay with the ship. In the end, everyone made it safely to shore. The rocks indeed splintered the ship, but it became the planks by which those who couldn't swim made it to the beach.

Despite the struggle of lifting the kayak back on the car, sweating to strap it down securely, packing up the multitude of necessary equipment for an outing on the lake, and having had a few anxious moments with the lake patrol and the lake rocks......I would still do it again. Hopefully tomorrow.

A few hours after we dropped Josh back home, I got an email from his mom. She told me Josh said he had a fantastic time, and by the way, there might be snails in the car, and I might want to go check.
Snails?
I sent Asherel out to the car and she returned with a warm bottle of cooked snails.
"I think they are dead," she said.

To all my beloved ones crashing against the rocks of life today, I just want to lift a prayer for you- don't abandon the ship, and be thankful you are not snails.

 Acts 27: 29-32, 42-44
²⁹ Fearing that we would be dashed against the rocks, they dropped four anchors from the stern and prayed for daylight. ³⁰ In an attempt to escape from the ship, the sailors let the lifeboat down into the sea, pretending they were going to lower some anchors from the bow. ³¹ Then Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men stay with the ship, you cannot be saved.” ³² So the soldiers cut the ropes that held the lifeboat and let it drift away. ⁴² The soldiers planned to kill the prisoners to prevent any of them from swimming away and escaping. ⁴³ But the centurion wanted to spare Paul’s life and kept them from carrying out their plan. He ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and get to land. ⁴⁴ The rest were to get there on planks or on other pieces of the ship. In this way everyone reached land safely.

On the heels of his master

Strong storms expected again today. I could tell before I read the forecast because Lucky is stuck to my heel. Everywhere I go, he follows, head low, tail between legs. He knows the barometric pressure is dropping like the Social Security funds and he is taking no chances. I don't know what he thinks I will be able to do for him should an F5 Tornado decide to pick on a house more challenging than a double wide. But he knows I am the master and he trusts that the master will have a plan.

And I do. I always have plans. As soon as I see the funnel cloud, I will bring all living beings into the bathtub. We will close the door and huddle and pray. There are some circumstances in life when our plans just are not sufficient for the threat.

Lucky's dour Eyore pessimism is in sharp contrast to how I feel today, however. There was only one dark cloud on a day of sunshine yesterday- one of my blogposts had disappeared perhaps forever.  I spent much of yesterday copying the year of blog posts and saving them in a word doc. I had thought of them as safe til Blogspot went down yesterday. For a day and a half, my post from Thursday was gone, totally gone. What if I had said something that should have been recorded for all time? What if I had uttered words so profound that it would be chiseled over " I think therefore I am." ?  I decided rather than take that chance, I better back up and copy my precious words.

And so I relived my year in about two hours. This is similar to your life passing before your eyes that so many people describe right before a near death experience. I was not near death fortunately; in fact my joy yesterday was so bubbly that I felt I could live forever. But I was struck by how often in the past year I wrote about horrible, dire, impossible circumstances that there seemed no way out..... and then at the last possible second, in the nick of time, so often some miraculous solution appeared.

I know this doesn't always happen. I know life is not a fairy tale and sometimes the pauper doesn't marry a prince; the dog doesn't find his way home, the beloved child doesn't return contrite and grateful, and the ark springs a leak before dry ground appears.  But one theme that occurs over and over again in my blog posts, the chronicle of the past 18 months of my life, is that whenever things turn around on a miracle, it is because I have been close on the heels of my Master. Lucky perhaps has the right idea.

Matthew 25:21
  ²¹ “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’