In making plans, I always try to include at least a "Plan B" to be ready for the unexpected. Sometimes, though, the unexpected is too far out of what I consider possible to plan for.
This "too far out" lands in two categories: 1.) Things that are so completely "normal" in my life that I don't ever think to plan around; and 2.) Things so completely "un-normal" in my life that I wouldn't have thought to plan around. Both of these categories happened for me this morning.
The first thing to throw off my plans happened when I went to get a drink of water after breakfast. I turned on the tap and found that the water coming out was browner than iced tea. Yuck. Nothing to drink. No shower. No brushing teeth. All with church starting in 90 minutes. There was nothing to do other than be the unshaven odoriferous pastor with halitosis.
Category 2 arrived during the sermon. Josh came in mid-message and whispered something to his mother. She looked shocked and left the building. Needless to say, we wondered what was going on. Come to find out, a man who lives across the street from the church who knows pretty much everyone in the congregation had just jumped off the roof onto the concrete below.
When things we take for granted aren't there it's inconvenient, annoying, and, in the case of today, a little smelly. With a few coping skills and a few phone calls the world can be returned to order.
Disillusion is an immediate byproduct of things from category two. They're beyond a phone call and a repairman getting to work. This is where faith comes in.
And by faith, I don't mean the pat answers/smile Jesus loves you kind of faith. The faith I'm talking about is what comes from walking through lots of life trying to follow the path we think Jesus is on. There are no easy answers and it's not all blue skies and apple pies. Better, we have the promise of strength and comfort amid the unimaginable.
And just so you know -----
The water was clean again by about 1 p.m. Our neighbor is in critical condition with a fractured skull.
Thanks for reading,
Jeff
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