Here I sit one hour from the new Year of 2012. What am I to expect this year? Only God knows. But I can tell you that I want to be in the center of His will. My friend made a wonderful statement today, when you are in the center of Gods will its the safest place to be. Pretty impressionable statement I thought. So why does things feel completely chaotic and out of control when you were pretty sure at the start of the day you were in Gods will for that day? It began by me taking this past Thursday off from work to take my daughter, son and another teenager in my church up to Springfield Illinois for a teen conference.
So you say to yourself..yep this is going to be a great day...I am prayed up and pretty sure one of the kids is definitely getting something from this conference. I get up at four in the morning to get ready and leave to be up in town to pick up the other teen that was going. It began one half mile down my gravel road...."should I turn around and get the van?"....daughter says..."I don't know."... I say, "man its really going to be tight in your little ford escort..maybe I should get the van..your dad warned me not to take this car because the bucket seats hurt my back so bad." Did I go back? No... I didn't. So we get to town pick up the other teen. We are making excellent time, so we stop for some Mickey D's breakfast, inhale food and leave again. All the while I am popping 4 ibuprofen because my back is hurting so badly. Finally get to the conference center in Springfield, even with all of its wonderful one way streets. I find a parking garage after driving up and down trying to figure out where to park. We wait on my sister and the other kids to join us and we enter the center. The "extreme room" was filled with a bunch of inflatables..oh and a huge life-sized chess set. Hmmm....was that worth the extra 40 dollars they charged in the hidden fees at the end of my online transaction? No...don't think like that, I say to myself...its going to be a great day. I wonder will they offer a sack lunch...the admission was not cheap. So I say to my sister.." Hey Cas, did you read anything at all on the web site about lunch being provided, because we couldn't find anything?" Cassie says..."Yeah I think they do offer some type of lunch." I ask, "are you sure?" So neither of us could confirm that for certainty, so off I went to go and ask. The girl I found promptly responded to my question with a no. She says to me that there was a list of "kid friendly" restaurants in the downtown area. We are parked in the garage that costs $5.50 for all day...if either of us try to get a vehicle out..then we pay to get back into the garage again. Not an option. So we walk following the cheesy map of downtown to the supposed "kid friendly" Jimmy Johns. We all cram into the restaurant trying to get our order. Unexpected expense...oh we don't have anything for them to drink either. So all day we get to hear how thirsty our group was.
My sister and her group leave for a hotel, because they are doing sight seeing the next day. But me...I stay and leave that night so I can get home and not have to stay in a hotel. I am exhausted after hauling everyone's coats, bags, and cameras around all day. So we load up and head for home. But my GPS on my phone is so wonderful...truly I love it. But the only problem was my phone went dead and the lighter in my daughters car is not functioning, so I couldn't charge my smart phone. Dumb phone! So I made it out of Springfield with my printed directions...even with all the one way streets. I got an hour down the road and it starts pouring rain. Lindsay's (my daughter) car wipers was not working well at all. I looked like a drunk, my headlight is out and I was all over the road. I stop twice to try to adjust the wipers, but it just wasn't working. So I prayed and asked God to make it stop raining. The further south we went, it began to stop. Whew! I was so glad. I dropped the other teen girl off at 1:30 in the morning. I tell Lindsay that my eyes were crossing and I need her drive the last 30 minutes home. We switch, I recline...all the way back grab my pillow, close my eyes...then I open them to red and blue lights flashing behind us. "oh no!" I say. I tell my daughter, who has never been pulled over, to remain calm, pull the car into the open parking lot, put the car into park, and do nothing until the officer approaches the window. She is awesome! He comes up, she rolls down her window, and he asks her if she know that she has a headlight out. She confirms that she knew, so he asks her for her drivers license and insurance. I get into the glove box to retrieve the insurance card and he comes to my side of the vehicle. He shines his light into the car, I roll the window down to give him the things he asked for, and then he asks "Ma'am, what did you put into the floor board?" I say, "Nothing sir." He says again, "I seen you put something into the floorboard..what did you put into the floorboard?" Again I say nothing. He opens the door and asks me to get out of the car. I complied and got out. Then he turns to me and says, "You need to step further to the back of the vehicle ma'am." I say, "yes sir." I step back further...then he spies something...so suspicious...a bottle under the seat. He says..."what is this bottle?" My daughter says nervously..."I think it might be a Jones soda or YooHoo."....He shines his light onto it...and what do you know...it was root beer. So he steps to the back of the car and says to me out of earshot of the kids..."So really what did you put into the floorboard...are you going to tell me?" I say, "nothing sir..." And this was asked after he searched my daughters back pack and my purse! He tells me to get back into the car and I ask if he wants to see my drivers license. He takes my ID and my daughters and went back to his car. A few minutes later he brings back a warning ticket, hands it to my daughter and gives back the ID's, and then bids a good night. What is that about?
It made me feel like I was on an episode of COPS! I felt like a delinquent mother! I just got back from a Christian Teen Event and why did I feel so bad and mad! Because that is the very goal of the enemy. To condemn and destroy. The Bible says that the enemy is seeking to whom he can devour...but (gotta love those buts!) Jesus has come and has come to give life more abundantly! Well to say the least I felt discouraged because a fun day for all...well...it just felt stressful. But my daughter walked away with a goal for 2012 to raise the money to go on a missions trip to Haiti. She will go with a group of young adults to take food and the gospel to the people in the mountains. Its all about perspective. I can not look at all that went wrong, because nothing surprised the Lord that day, but I have to look at the things that went right. The next day while out taking my run...you'll never guess what I saw...a great horned owl. God is amazing! Exactly when I need confirmation of His presence in my life, He sends me my sign. So tonight I sign off my blog in 2011....and I will be back to write in 2012! What a bright future!
No comments:
Post a Comment