"What are you guys doing here?" I heard my son's voice and saw him looking down from the SUV beside us a few weeks ago. Well, we were actually getting something inside the store for his daughter's birthday! "We'll see you there soon," he called as they went on to the party location.
We didn't see their car as we pulled up, so we waited patiently, then decided to go in. We were sitting on a bench by the door when the hostess asked, "Would you like a booth?" to which I replied, "No, we're waiting for family."
After a few minutes I said to Howard, "They did say Pizza Inn, didn't they?" He said he thought so, so we settled down to wait. Just then the phone rang.
"Where are you guys?" Our son queried.
"We're at Pizza Inn!" I exclaimed. "Where are you?" Then I heard him say, "We're at Pizza Hut! I told you!"
After I insisted he'd said Pizza Inn, we drove the short distance to Pizza Hut. We found them waiting to cut the cake with several others around the table for our granddaughter's 8th birthday celebration. Later I looked at my phone and found the text that did indeed say Pizza Hut!
I've got to quit speed-reading and scanning print! Twice recently we showed up for church events that I was sure were on particular nights, only to find we were the only ones there! Although I get the church bulletin, they often get misplaced or don't make it home with me!
The aforementioned incidents pale in comparison to scenarios the past couple of days. Our visit to son Mark's home in Austin was expanded to include visiting son Jamie's family in Houston. The guys met halfway to alleviate the distance to transfer their parents, the procedure being repeated when we would go back to Mark's to catch the train.
"We have extra time," Jamie said as we prepared to meet Mark at Brenham, to which I said, "Well, we could visit the Blue Bell creamery near there." Little Isaac heard us mention ice cream, and he was excited. I was enjoying the scenery and the puffy white clouds floating past the car window when a horrible thought hit me.
"I made a mistake!" I announced ominously from the back seat. "I left my phone plugged into Jamie's wall!"
"Well, we won't be getting ice cream," our son announced as he resolutely turned the car around, prompting a little voice to protest, "I want ice cream!" It's a good thing we left early, I thought. Isaac's daddy consoled his son by promising ice cream at the Dairy Queen where we would meet up with Mark for lunch.
Up bright and early getting our things together to catch the train the next morning, I discovered we had left medical equipment of Howard's at Jamie's! Jamie would have to mail it! Thankfully, it was nothing urgent.
We were almost to the train station, even a little early, when Mark's phone rang with the news that I had left my computer! How could that be? I remembered packing it in its special carrying bag! We turned around to go to meet grandson Grant who would relay the computer to us. But as time was running short, Mark called Grant to squelch those plans, as we might not get to the train on time.
Mark said he could mail the computer, but just then the phone rang with Grant saying he would meet us with it at the train station! Miraculously, he made it just in time to hand the computer bag out the window. I knew I had put it in the bag! "It was sitting on the chair!" Grant exclaimed.
We sat down on the train with a sigh of relief. We had made it, with the help of our family who had loaded and carried our luggage back and forth numerous times. And just 3 hours until we would meet son Trevor, who would take us out to eat during our Ft. Worth layover, after which grandson Adam would meet us in Oklahoma to drive us home! Thank you, God, who works things out when we mess up, and thank You for dutiful, caring loved ones who help when we forget!
Sunday, April 23, 2017
Tuesday, April 18, 2017
He is Risen!
"We're having the children's bell choir again, since the Summers Six were not here earlier," our son Mark announced laughingly as the children lined up in front of the congregation. I laughed, too, since he is the eldest of our six kids. Turns out this family's name is spelled Sommers, but the coincidence is amazing. We had four boys and 2 girls, while they had four girls and 2 boys!
Mark drew his sermon from I Corinthians 15:13-14, where Paul puts forth the dichotomy of what it would be like if there is no resurrection. "If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is dead, and so is your faith."
"Why then have Easter?" Pastor Mark asked, "Why drag everyone from bed, get the kids ready, look for lost shoes, and go to all the trouble?" (Later, he laughed again, after learning that was indeed the case when the Sommers family was late because of their small son's missing shoe!)
His father and I do not often get to hear our son preach, and we were bursting with parental pride and gratefulness to God at his eloquent and heartfelt message. Our spirits agreed with the several people who greeted us after church with nothing but fervent appreciation and love for their pastor and his wife.
And it's no wonder, as what we saw from them that morning was nothing short of amazing. The church is a satellite church from a larger campus that for the past year has been using the facilities of an elementary school for services. This entails literally taking a church from a box (truck) and setting it up every Sunday morning! Teams of dedicated members busily and efficiently set up chairs in the cafeteria-turned-sanctuary, partition off children's classes and a nursery, place musical instruments on the platform, and dozens of other feats, including turning it back into a lunchroom, unfolding tables to leave it as they found it!
"Please stay on the canvas when we take communion," Mark advised. It seems the school doesn't appreciate any grape juice dripped on the carpet. "Just receive the elements there and return to your seats," he instructed. A large canvas had been taped down at the back of the room for that purpose.
Although the Last Supper was the scene of the first communion, now known as Maundy Thursday, and Jesus died on Good Friday and rose on Easter Sunday, we took the bread and juice in remembrance that morning, being careful not to spill the representation of the blood, which was spilled so freely for us at Calvary.
As Paul said in I Corinthians 15:20, "But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep." He is risen!
Mark drew his sermon from I Corinthians 15:13-14, where Paul puts forth the dichotomy of what it would be like if there is no resurrection. "If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is dead, and so is your faith."
"Why then have Easter?" Pastor Mark asked, "Why drag everyone from bed, get the kids ready, look for lost shoes, and go to all the trouble?" (Later, he laughed again, after learning that was indeed the case when the Sommers family was late because of their small son's missing shoe!)
His father and I do not often get to hear our son preach, and we were bursting with parental pride and gratefulness to God at his eloquent and heartfelt message. Our spirits agreed with the several people who greeted us after church with nothing but fervent appreciation and love for their pastor and his wife.
And it's no wonder, as what we saw from them that morning was nothing short of amazing. The church is a satellite church from a larger campus that for the past year has been using the facilities of an elementary school for services. This entails literally taking a church from a box (truck) and setting it up every Sunday morning! Teams of dedicated members busily and efficiently set up chairs in the cafeteria-turned-sanctuary, partition off children's classes and a nursery, place musical instruments on the platform, and dozens of other feats, including turning it back into a lunchroom, unfolding tables to leave it as they found it!
"Please stay on the canvas when we take communion," Mark advised. It seems the school doesn't appreciate any grape juice dripped on the carpet. "Just receive the elements there and return to your seats," he instructed. A large canvas had been taped down at the back of the room for that purpose.
Although the Last Supper was the scene of the first communion, now known as Maundy Thursday, and Jesus died on Good Friday and rose on Easter Sunday, we took the bread and juice in remembrance that morning, being careful not to spill the representation of the blood, which was spilled so freely for us at Calvary.
As Paul said in I Corinthians 15:20, "But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep." He is risen!
Monday, March 27, 2017
Pitcher Pictures
While eating breakfast this morning, my eyes fell on a collection of pitchers I have on the bottom shelf of a serving cart. I love pitchers! Pitchers and bowls! And teapots! I never seem to get enough of them. Looking at the graceful shape (well, most of them, I also have rustic pitchers) and smooth curve of the pouring lip is soothing and pleasurable to me. I guess my addiction hails back to when I was little and my favorite Christmas present was always a tea set!
Not only are they nice to look at, they bring back memories of when and where I got each one, and the story behind or in them! One of my favorites is a heavy, crockery pitcher I bought at an estate sale several years ago. I loved the red barn painted on the front, and always kept that side turned outward to go with the red accents of my kitchen. One day I decided to turn it around, and it dawned on me that the scene painted on the back was like looking at our former home in Mississippi!
The farmhouse was so similar I couldn't get over it! It was blue, which our house was after we'd had it redone. The gable end faced the front, from which a porch with a railing extended to the side just like our house! There was a light post near the drive, and a fence along the front by the road, same as ours. Even a tree at the same corner of the house as the one our children played under. What sweet memories flooded my thoughts!
I also like the pitcher engraved with the scripture, "I was thirsty, and you offered me drink," Matthew 25:35. I used to keep it in a bowl with the words, "O taste and see that the Lord is good, "Psalm 34:8, etched just below the rim.
One pot isn't exactly a pitcher, but a lovely, ceramic coffee pot that used to sit at the bottom of a drip coffee maker. On it is a raised, painted scene of sailboats on blue water with puffy clouds overhead. It is very old, and was part of a collection from my husband's mother. How surprised I was one day when I saw one just like it in an artistic display on a magazine cover!
In John 7:37-38, an account is given of the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles, when golden pitchers would be used by priests to pour out water on the altar as an offering to God. Jesus was there and witnessed the ceremony. The Bible says, "Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water."
In verse 39, John explains, (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)
Thankfully, the Holy Spirit is available for us today, pouring out upon all who thirst for Him!
Not only are they nice to look at, they bring back memories of when and where I got each one, and the story behind or in them! One of my favorites is a heavy, crockery pitcher I bought at an estate sale several years ago. I loved the red barn painted on the front, and always kept that side turned outward to go with the red accents of my kitchen. One day I decided to turn it around, and it dawned on me that the scene painted on the back was like looking at our former home in Mississippi!
The farmhouse was so similar I couldn't get over it! It was blue, which our house was after we'd had it redone. The gable end faced the front, from which a porch with a railing extended to the side just like our house! There was a light post near the drive, and a fence along the front by the road, same as ours. Even a tree at the same corner of the house as the one our children played under. What sweet memories flooded my thoughts!
I also like the pitcher engraved with the scripture, "I was thirsty, and you offered me drink," Matthew 25:35. I used to keep it in a bowl with the words, "O taste and see that the Lord is good, "Psalm 34:8, etched just below the rim.
One pot isn't exactly a pitcher, but a lovely, ceramic coffee pot that used to sit at the bottom of a drip coffee maker. On it is a raised, painted scene of sailboats on blue water with puffy clouds overhead. It is very old, and was part of a collection from my husband's mother. How surprised I was one day when I saw one just like it in an artistic display on a magazine cover!
In John 7:37-38, an account is given of the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles, when golden pitchers would be used by priests to pour out water on the altar as an offering to God. Jesus was there and witnessed the ceremony. The Bible says, "Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water."
In verse 39, John explains, (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)
Thankfully, the Holy Spirit is available for us today, pouring out upon all who thirst for Him!
Wednesday, March 22, 2017
Voices
"Julie, I thought I heard your mama's mama's voice!" my son-in-law Steve exclaimed as he came out from a convenience store to where our daughter was waiting in the car. They were in Tennessee, near the area where my mother lived until she was 12 years old, before her family moved to Texas. "I could have sworn I was listening to your Grandma!"
He had overheard a conversation which obviously reflected the dialect of the Tennessee mountains! My mom did have a unique way of speaking, especially if she was telling a story. She was good at that. Her masterful tale-telling in her country vernacular kept any listener enthralled, as often as not inducing side-splitting laughter in those paying rapt attention, hanging on every word. I can still hear her dramatic, drawn-out descriptions and the way she prefaced her remarks by saying, "Now listen at this!"
Of course, Mama's voice was at its best when she was telling of the goodness of God. When a family member might have a seemingly insurmountable problem, the spunky red-head would often remind them emphatically, "God is the biggest!" Her favorite Bible verse was "In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy path," Proverbs 3:6. And acknowledge Him she did!
Mama was a prayer warrior. As such, her voice was often heard from her bedroom lifted in praise and supplication to her Lord for her large family.
We attended a funeral a couple of weeks ago, after my husband had exclaimed over seeing the obituary in the newspaper of a long-ago friend. We hadn't seen her in more than 50 years, since we had lived away so long, but old memories run deep. We hardly recognized her family members we met there, but talk flowed easily of the old good times. Howard recalled when the departed had worked at his father's grocery store/meat market; and I approached a middle-aged lady playing with her grandchild who I remembered as a three-year-old my mother-in-law used to baby-sit while her mother worked at said store.
Howard recalled laughingly how he could still hear his father's voice advising him to always refer to the chickens in the meat-case as "Arkansas fryers." And to stress to the customers that the hamburger "had just enough fat and just enough lean" in it, plus the fact that "bone-in roasts and chops taste best!"
My mother's voice still reverberates in the hearts of loved ones left behind, and has guided many in life choices. But I would love to go to her home place in Tennessee and hear those endearing local voices for myself!
He had overheard a conversation which obviously reflected the dialect of the Tennessee mountains! My mom did have a unique way of speaking, especially if she was telling a story. She was good at that. Her masterful tale-telling in her country vernacular kept any listener enthralled, as often as not inducing side-splitting laughter in those paying rapt attention, hanging on every word. I can still hear her dramatic, drawn-out descriptions and the way she prefaced her remarks by saying, "Now listen at this!"
Of course, Mama's voice was at its best when she was telling of the goodness of God. When a family member might have a seemingly insurmountable problem, the spunky red-head would often remind them emphatically, "God is the biggest!" Her favorite Bible verse was "In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy path," Proverbs 3:6. And acknowledge Him she did!
Mama was a prayer warrior. As such, her voice was often heard from her bedroom lifted in praise and supplication to her Lord for her large family.
We attended a funeral a couple of weeks ago, after my husband had exclaimed over seeing the obituary in the newspaper of a long-ago friend. We hadn't seen her in more than 50 years, since we had lived away so long, but old memories run deep. We hardly recognized her family members we met there, but talk flowed easily of the old good times. Howard recalled when the departed had worked at his father's grocery store/meat market; and I approached a middle-aged lady playing with her grandchild who I remembered as a three-year-old my mother-in-law used to baby-sit while her mother worked at said store.
Howard recalled laughingly how he could still hear his father's voice advising him to always refer to the chickens in the meat-case as "Arkansas fryers." And to stress to the customers that the hamburger "had just enough fat and just enough lean" in it, plus the fact that "bone-in roasts and chops taste best!"
My mother's voice still reverberates in the hearts of loved ones left behind, and has guided many in life choices. But I would love to go to her home place in Tennessee and hear those endearing local voices for myself!
Monday, March 20, 2017
Plumb Drained!
The house was quiet. Howard had gone to do chores at the farm, and I was resting after a busy morning. Still tired from a non-stop week running around with our visiting son and family, I fell asleep on the sofa. I had put in a load of clothes to wash and went to check on them when I woke up.
What in the world! There was water at my feet in the kitchen! The floor was flooded, and I could see the double sink had overflowed! Oh, no! My husband had been plunging a sluggish sink and garbage disposal, but nothing like this had happened! The wash room was also flooded, with sopping wet throw rugs squishing beneath my feet!
I met Howard at the door with the unhappy surprise. We didn't know a plumber! Our son recommended the "Drain Doctor." When he got here and assessed the problem, he returned with a huge tire! I could see why when he pulled out a plumber's snake he carried coiled inside it. Just a push of a button on the motorized device, and within 20 minutes our drains were working again. Apparently, the washing machine shared the same plumbing as the kitchen sink. Whew! What a relief! Now life could go on!
"What stopped it up?" we asked, although I suspected my husband had lost a dish cloth down it when he did dishes one day recently.
"Just food," the wise "doctor," (who looked to be only a kid) answered. Well, I realized guiltily, I was rather careless about putting large amounts of leftovers down it when we'd had company, even baked potato and sweet potato skins.
Sometimes it seems like our spiritual life is "clogged up" as we get overloaded living life and are too busy to make time for God. Maybe it's nothing major, just the ordinary challenges, problems and stresses that consume our day.
It is easy to give excuses or to say it was so-and-so's fault for our lack of time or opportunity to attend to our "clogged" spiritual life. Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden found excuses for their disobedience and played the blame game. Adam blamed Eve, and Eve blamed the devil, the serpent.
We notice in the Bible that Jesus often took time to pray. During His temptation in the wilderness, he stopped Satan in his tracks by using the Word. "It is written..." prefaced His defense as He refuted the enemy. When flooded with life's problems, we can take comfort in these words: "When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him," Isaiah 59;19.
The Bible calls Satan a snake as it reads, "And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years." Revelation 20:2.
When we were kids, my brothers and I referred to a dragonfly on the water as a "snake doctor." Although the "Drain Doctor" used a "snake" to fix our problem, it is Doctor Jesus, the Great Physician, who is our ever present help in time of need!
What in the world! There was water at my feet in the kitchen! The floor was flooded, and I could see the double sink had overflowed! Oh, no! My husband had been plunging a sluggish sink and garbage disposal, but nothing like this had happened! The wash room was also flooded, with sopping wet throw rugs squishing beneath my feet!
I met Howard at the door with the unhappy surprise. We didn't know a plumber! Our son recommended the "Drain Doctor." When he got here and assessed the problem, he returned with a huge tire! I could see why when he pulled out a plumber's snake he carried coiled inside it. Just a push of a button on the motorized device, and within 20 minutes our drains were working again. Apparently, the washing machine shared the same plumbing as the kitchen sink. Whew! What a relief! Now life could go on!
"What stopped it up?" we asked, although I suspected my husband had lost a dish cloth down it when he did dishes one day recently.
"Just food," the wise "doctor," (who looked to be only a kid) answered. Well, I realized guiltily, I was rather careless about putting large amounts of leftovers down it when we'd had company, even baked potato and sweet potato skins.
Sometimes it seems like our spiritual life is "clogged up" as we get overloaded living life and are too busy to make time for God. Maybe it's nothing major, just the ordinary challenges, problems and stresses that consume our day.
It is easy to give excuses or to say it was so-and-so's fault for our lack of time or opportunity to attend to our "clogged" spiritual life. Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden found excuses for their disobedience and played the blame game. Adam blamed Eve, and Eve blamed the devil, the serpent.
We notice in the Bible that Jesus often took time to pray. During His temptation in the wilderness, he stopped Satan in his tracks by using the Word. "It is written..." prefaced His defense as He refuted the enemy. When flooded with life's problems, we can take comfort in these words: "When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him," Isaiah 59;19.
The Bible calls Satan a snake as it reads, "And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years." Revelation 20:2.
When we were kids, my brothers and I referred to a dragonfly on the water as a "snake doctor." Although the "Drain Doctor" used a "snake" to fix our problem, it is Doctor Jesus, the Great Physician, who is our ever present help in time of need!
Saturday, March 18, 2017
Picture That!
"Excuse me, but would you mind if I take your picture?" a stranger asked Howard today! We were browsing at an estate sale and were taken by surprise by her request. "You look just like my late father-in-law," she explained, "and my mother-in-law wondered if you minded," she continued as a smiling older woman appeared at her elbow.
"We noticed when you first came in that you look so much like him," they marveled. "He even wore a hat like yours," the widow remarked fondly, "And a mustache," she finished. Of course, my husband was glad to comply. Then they heard me say something to him, calling him by name, and the older lady said, "Howard! Our last name is Howard!"
"Is this okay?" the younger woman asked Mrs. Howard, showing her the image on the phone screen. Then she snapped another shot, to her mother-in-law's satisfaction. They thanked us profusely, and we continued to browse, with a warm glow of "What just happened?" making us smile.
It reminded me of the time when we were riding on a train to see family, and a large group of older men came into the observation car where we were, and sat down. I couldn't take my eyes off one of them. He looked amazingly like an older version of Howard! The same chin, nose, and demeanor. It was uncanny! I didn't take a picture, though maybe I should have!
Thankfully, my spouse is friendly and likable, and nearly always outgoing to strangers, so he rather enjoyed the incident. But what if he had been cross and unapproachable? I doubt they would have wanted his picture! Even though we didn't know the people, it seemed we had a kindred spirit.
When people pass away, sometimes it is hard to remember them exactly after awhile, and we even begin to forget the sound of their voice as time goes on. But the Bible tells us that in Heaven, we will know loved ones, friends and acquaintances. I Corinthians 13:12 reads, "For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known." A picture that no camera on earth can equal!
"We noticed when you first came in that you look so much like him," they marveled. "He even wore a hat like yours," the widow remarked fondly, "And a mustache," she finished. Of course, my husband was glad to comply. Then they heard me say something to him, calling him by name, and the older lady said, "Howard! Our last name is Howard!"
"Is this okay?" the younger woman asked Mrs. Howard, showing her the image on the phone screen. Then she snapped another shot, to her mother-in-law's satisfaction. They thanked us profusely, and we continued to browse, with a warm glow of "What just happened?" making us smile.
It reminded me of the time when we were riding on a train to see family, and a large group of older men came into the observation car where we were, and sat down. I couldn't take my eyes off one of them. He looked amazingly like an older version of Howard! The same chin, nose, and demeanor. It was uncanny! I didn't take a picture, though maybe I should have!
Thankfully, my spouse is friendly and likable, and nearly always outgoing to strangers, so he rather enjoyed the incident. But what if he had been cross and unapproachable? I doubt they would have wanted his picture! Even though we didn't know the people, it seemed we had a kindred spirit.
When people pass away, sometimes it is hard to remember them exactly after awhile, and we even begin to forget the sound of their voice as time goes on. But the Bible tells us that in Heaven, we will know loved ones, friends and acquaintances. I Corinthians 13:12 reads, "For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known." A picture that no camera on earth can equal!
Friday, March 17, 2017
"Oh Misery, Misery, Mumble and Moan, Someone (Re-)invented the Telephone!"
"Hi, Mark," I said cheerily when our eldest son's name lit up the screen of my iPhone. I was startled to hear a woman's voice say, "I don't know whose phone this is. It was left out in front of my shop!"
I said Mark was my son, and rapid-fire info filled my ear when the voice said, "He is in Kemah! Do you know who he is with, so you can tell him where his phone is?" I drew a blank. I'd had no idea he was at this resort area a good way from their home in Austin. But with this being the week of Spring Break, it was possible they were taking a holiday.
Hanging up the phone with the promise of trying to reach somebody, I dialed his wife's number. No answer. Repeated calls were futile as well. I didn't have either of his sons' phone numbers, and I couldn't think of anyone who might be with him.
After much frantic wracking of my brain, I decided to call the lady on Mark's phone again and suggest she contact other numbers on his phone. I pushed Mark's name, and the phone rang. He answered! "Hi, Mom," he said, "I lost my phone. We are at Kemah, and I didn't know where I had left it! I retraced my steps and just found it!"
The details were sketchy, and Mark was in a hurry, so it was all a little fuzzy to me. I gathered that my daughter-in-law was shopping somewhere, and when I said I had tried to call her, his response was "Rhonda's phone is dead." So that was it. I was just glad he found his phone!
Sometimes the new technology can leave us stranded and feeling helpless. I could always find my phone when it was attached to the wall, but now, not so much! My youngest son and family were here from Texas for a few days of their
Spring Break. They visited the Marland Mansion, and I saw a photo of their 8-year-old posing holding an old-fashioned receiver with a long cord attached to a rotary dial phone on the wall. She seemed to get a big kick out of it!
It used to be that people had to go through a priest to talk to God. But when Jesus died on the cross, the heavy veil that hung in the temple was rent in two, giving us direct access to the Father! Hebrews 10:19-20 tells us, "Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, (20) By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh."
I am so glad that Jesus always has a listening ear for His children! And His phone is never dead!
I said Mark was my son, and rapid-fire info filled my ear when the voice said, "He is in Kemah! Do you know who he is with, so you can tell him where his phone is?" I drew a blank. I'd had no idea he was at this resort area a good way from their home in Austin. But with this being the week of Spring Break, it was possible they were taking a holiday.
Hanging up the phone with the promise of trying to reach somebody, I dialed his wife's number. No answer. Repeated calls were futile as well. I didn't have either of his sons' phone numbers, and I couldn't think of anyone who might be with him.
After much frantic wracking of my brain, I decided to call the lady on Mark's phone again and suggest she contact other numbers on his phone. I pushed Mark's name, and the phone rang. He answered! "Hi, Mom," he said, "I lost my phone. We are at Kemah, and I didn't know where I had left it! I retraced my steps and just found it!"
The details were sketchy, and Mark was in a hurry, so it was all a little fuzzy to me. I gathered that my daughter-in-law was shopping somewhere, and when I said I had tried to call her, his response was "Rhonda's phone is dead." So that was it. I was just glad he found his phone!
Sometimes the new technology can leave us stranded and feeling helpless. I could always find my phone when it was attached to the wall, but now, not so much! My youngest son and family were here from Texas for a few days of their
Spring Break. They visited the Marland Mansion, and I saw a photo of their 8-year-old posing holding an old-fashioned receiver with a long cord attached to a rotary dial phone on the wall. She seemed to get a big kick out of it!
It used to be that people had to go through a priest to talk to God. But when Jesus died on the cross, the heavy veil that hung in the temple was rent in two, giving us direct access to the Father! Hebrews 10:19-20 tells us, "Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, (20) By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh."
I am so glad that Jesus always has a listening ear for His children! And His phone is never dead!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)