Picnic lunch, appointments, preaching

Mama had a medical appointment yesterday. A routine checkup. That appointment concluded about the time I take my lunch, so we met at a park in Decatur and had a picnic lunch. We had to eat in the Sequoia because the wind was blowing hard. I hoped that anyone who might have seen me enter a vehicle and kiss the woman inside that vehicle would know that that woman was Mama. You never know what people will say. It was warm, but a front was moving in yesterday, promising rain. Mama, Victoria and I are all wanting to eat better. However, too often that desire is outweighed by the ease of eating things that are convenient rather than healthy. Eating out rather than preparing something at home. Eating fast food rather than eating a simple healthy meal. But yesterday Mama made some chicken salad and brought some ciabatta buns to make sandwiches. It was a pleasant, unhurried lunch. A wonderful interlude within my work day. A lunch event we will have to repeat as often as we are able.

Krystal als
o had an appointment yesterday, so the boys were with Mama when I got home. Mama had windows open throughout the house. The pleasant afternoon stretched into the afternoon and evening, so Mama took the opportunity to air out the house. When I pulled into the driveway, I thought perhaps Krystal’s appointment had been cancelled because I saw no signs of activity; however, when I got inside the house, it was not difficult to find the boys. The noise they were making carried easily through the open windows. Norman was following Mama while she was doing the evening feeding. Leo and Nathan were playing a variation of basketball using a grate we have beside the patio as their makeshift basket. They were not being loud per se, just inventing games so they could beat each other in some perceived tournament; the loser accusing the winner of cheating. They spent the evening with us and came to church that night for our special service.


Mama stayed home. She was hurting badly. Has been for several days now. Both her replaced knee and her hip on the opposite side. She was hurting badly enough that I asked her to schedule an appointment with the surgeon’s office to at least get an x-ray of the replaced joint to see if everything was still in place. That appointment is set for later this morning. Her failed replacement surgery has been a huge disappointment to us. Mama especially. But there is very little recourse for us. Every option is frightfully expensive. Every medical procedure adds an expense that extends my time in this job. Not necessarily a bad thing, but it makes planning our real estate business challenging. Postponing that business to have the help – such as it is – of insurance, is a sad commentary on the industry that so profoundly affects us and the providers that try to meet our medical needs.


Last night Dr. Smith preached out of Isaiah 6:1 where the prophet says, “In the year that king Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord…” His sermon points reflected times and situations in life where we need to look past our circumstances and see “also the Lord”. Times of suffering, when we do not understand why we must endure what has beset us. Times of sorrow, when the loss is so overwhelming, we see no comfort available. Times of shame, when we feel like we have failed so horribly that there is no restoration possible. Those are time in which we need to look a little more carefully and see the Lord through the problem and know that He alone can meet our need. All we have to do is recognize our need for His intervention and ask Him to help. He is willing. He is able. He is worthy. It was another good sermon. We need good preaching. Bible preaching. Convicting preaching. There are so few churches now that preach in a way that challenges believers in their walk with the Lord.


It is good to be in one of those churches.