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PROGRAM D-8263
Sometimes life seems to be full of nothing but trouble, wouldn’t you agree? This week our friend, Fran, is experiencing one of those times when the world seems to be falling in around her ears.
Her son, Drew, broke his right hand at school and she has extra care to give him while his hand is in a cast. Then her work schedule was interrupted by a high priority presentation that her boss asked her to do. And last night she got the terrible news that a good friend, Joan, is back in the hospital with a recurring cancer that seems to be terminal.
With very little sleep and very little heart, Fran goes to her job today where she has to make this important presentation.
“Lord,” she says, “to me this presentation is very unimportant. I mean, when I think of Joan, I just have no heart to do this.”
As she says this, she remembers the story in the Bible about John the Baptist and how he was killed. “Lord,” she says, “that must have been so hard for you. You tried to get away to mourn alone, didn’t you? But the crowds followed you.”
She recalls the scene and remembers that even though Jesus wanted to be alone, his heart was filled with compassion for the people, so he interrupted his mourning to minister to them.
“Wasn’t that one of the times you fed the huge crowd?” Fran thinks out loud. “Yes, I’m sure it was. So, in the midst of your sorrow and troubles, you ministered to others and worked a miracle. Is there a message here for me, Lord?” she prays. “Like, I have to keep going and do what you’ve given me to do even in the midst of my troubles?”
She considers this a voice from the Lord to her and resolves to keep going.
The presentation goes well, her boss is satisfied, and Fran is glad to have that behind her. She thinks, Well, maybe I can dig into some of this piled up workload, and then tonight I want to visit Joan in the hospital.
As she gets in her car to go home, the motor doesn’t turn over. “What’s the matter with the car?” she asks out loud. One of the guys volunteers to jump it for her, but that doesn’t work. “Oh, great,” Fran says, “now what do I do?”
Her friend Louise drives her home. She calls her Dad to ask what she should do about her car but he’s not home yet. Drew complains that his hand is hurting again tonight, and she tries to help him. She opens the mail to find a real estate tax bill that has gone up by fifteen percent.
“What else, Lord?” she asks. “Oh, that I had wings of a dove; I would fly away and be at rest,” Fran quotes the Psalmist.
Is life falling in around you, too?