“Before they call, I will answer.” (Isaiah 45:24)
Tom has been going to the annual Blade show in Atlanta for over 20 years! Last year was the first time he took the boys. They had a great time. Everyone enjoyed meeting “Tom’s boys” and the opposite is true…the boys made Tom’s friends…theirs. Ever since last year, the plan was that the boys would start going with Tom to Blade! Jake got a job at CYB (summer camp) for the summer, so he was out, but the trip was still on for Tom, Ben, and Zack!
Less then a week before they were leaving for Atlanta, Zack told me he didn’t want to go. He wanted to stay at home and go to camp meeting with his friends. I told him he needed to talk to Daddy, but inside I was screaming….
“No way! You ARE going, Zack! I don’t need a single, lone kid straggling behind! My schedule is crazy! I mean, I can’t even take care of my dogs, they’re going to Camp Netzel! No way! You ARE going, Zack! I have to make a day trip to get Jake to camp and hang the curtains in the nature room and then admire them! I work! CYB. Work! Off. Work. No way! You ARE going, Zack! I can’t deal with making a schedule for you…this person picks him up and drops him off and picks him up and he’s at this person’s house this night and I can get him that night…NOPE! Sorry! You ARE going!”
But then somehow (something? Someone?) settled me down.
“Ok! You don’t have to go! You can stay. I can figure out a schedule for you! I can get it arranged.”
And so it was, Zack didn’t drive to Atlanta with Tom. He didn’t start his bellyache and vomiting in a hotel room. He didn’t have to go through most-probable mental anguish with his loving brother telling him, “Zack! Don’t be a baby! It’s not that bad.” He didn’t have to have surgery for a ruptured appendix far from home, in an out-of-network hospital, with strangers taking care of him. His family didn’t have to stay in a hotel for a week or his Mom have to have a COMPLETE breakdown because she was 12 hours away! (her breakdown was only partial!) He didn’t have to make a long drive/flight home from Atlanta.
“Before they call, I will answer!”
I wrote that just a week ago! And boy did it ring true this week! I suppose it’s the Christian’s “job” to keep the faith. He didn’t stop that appendix from going bad. He doesn’t stop death and sickness a lot of the time. But He’s with us. He is watching!
“Before they call, I will answer.” I am so grateful!