A winter storm has come to eastern North Carolina. Of course, the coastal folk, of which I am one, were spared the ice and snow. I rarely consider snow a hindrance. I am told, by those who live in wintery climates, that snow, as it begins to melt, re-freeze and melt again holds no beauty. The delicate flakes coming down quietly, transforming the world around us into a winter wonderland lose their form and beauty over time.
One winter I travelled to Pennsylvania on business. I saw for myself the truth of a snow gone bad. Pennsylvania was new to me. The effects of a long, dreary winter were new to me. Buildings, sidewalks, streets and plant growth were a dingy, gray of melted and refrozen snow. Car fumes,over time, darkened the refrozen snow to a listless, shade of grey with dark streaks running through. No sign of the beauty of snow remained. I remember thinking how sad to live where dingy, gray dominates the color palette. Gray skies mocked a hope of spring to come. My spirit was overwhelmed by the dark, cold, wintery days.
I wanted to head south for home, on the coast,where the chance of snow draws fits of giggles and redneck drivers abandon their common sense recklessly speeding down icy highways. Two days later the sun pops out, the snow melts into the ground, Carolina blue skies stretch as far as the eye can see. No gray in sight.
Sunday, February 22, 2015
Monday, February 9, 2015
WHAT'S ONE LIFE WORTH?
One life. One life. One life. One life.
my friend: texted with my brother today. "it" has come back.
me: the cancer?
my friend: yeah, cancer or an infection (nervous laugh)
me: i am so sorry. were you able to talk to him?
my friend: no. it hurts him too much to talk. we texted. i don't want to talk about it. lets watch a dumb t.v. show.
me: ya gottit!
text to my phone: pray for melanie. she stopped breathing. they are on the way to the emergency room.
(melanie is a four year old girl who fits into a modified stroller. she has severe scoliosis. her body is bending in on itself. if she is not saved the experience by a premature death, she will literally turn in on herself and die for lack of breath.)
me: in silent prayer..."oh God! oh God! oh God! be with this family and this child as this may be her time. help her family to see her entering into the arms of Jesus. oh God! oh God! oh God"
phone call: mom, we got off work early. my boss came running out of the house we were working on yelling for us to throw everything on the truck because we had to go right that minute.
me: what on earth?
son: he got a call his adult son had been in a very serious accident. no one knew more details.
me: i know that fear. i felt it driving to the hospital when i got a call from a nurse telling me you were in the er and that i should drive carefully. my mind went numb. my body went numb. then i headed for the hospital numb all over, panicked, oozing fear, praying . i know that fear.
email from my friend whos' daughter, Maria, was born beautiful and healthy. at 16 months she began to regress to the horror and fear of her parents. she had seizures, violent, long seizures. she had symptoms of autism, epilepsy, on and on it went. The name of the beast was Rhett's disease. mostly young girls, unseen at first, attacks in early years. I met my friend on an airplane flight. Conversation began. He was angry, in despair, trying all the self-help books, all the "if you have enough faith" churches, all the speaking it so that it would be so and nothing was helping her. He was terrified that he and his wife would die without enough resources to provide for their daughter. He was working harder and harder to make money. At home he was part of a 24 hr. a day care team. At home his daughter would not know him when he came home, she could not walk, she screamed and writhed in horrific siezures. She threw herself against the wall. Hospital trip after hospital trip.
We stayed in touch sporadically. We had talked about Christ on that plane. As the year's passed and no change happened for Maria, her father began to change. He surrendered. He began to talk about God in our emails. Time passed. He took his daughter to a state of the art program with hope that their holistic approach would help. Nothing changed except that somewhere in those years Maria recognized her father for the first time.
Time passed. Maria will soon be 19 years old. My friend has been part of a group of people putting together an organization for people like Maria. He sent me an email with a link I will share. She is an angel. He has always been right about her being an angel. He speaks of God with a deep love now. He has seasoned.
He is having major surgery on his neck to remove spurs. He says he has been in horrible pain for years. The doctors have finally found the source of the pain. He has never mentioned his pain to me.
He sent the link below. Brain Restoration Ministeries is a fledgling organization born out of the seasoning of many parents and friends. The first story you hear is theone told by my friend and his lovely daughter Maria.
www.
Maria's mother is a pharmacist and has a long list of studies shown with her picture as part of the team of professionals working to find help for these children.
my friend: texted with my brother today. "it" has come back.
me: the cancer?
my friend: yeah, cancer or an infection (nervous laugh)
me: i am so sorry. were you able to talk to him?
my friend: no. it hurts him too much to talk. we texted. i don't want to talk about it. lets watch a dumb t.v. show.
me: ya gottit!
text to my phone: pray for melanie. she stopped breathing. they are on the way to the emergency room.
(melanie is a four year old girl who fits into a modified stroller. she has severe scoliosis. her body is bending in on itself. if she is not saved the experience by a premature death, she will literally turn in on herself and die for lack of breath.)
me: in silent prayer..."oh God! oh God! oh God! be with this family and this child as this may be her time. help her family to see her entering into the arms of Jesus. oh God! oh God! oh God"
phone call: mom, we got off work early. my boss came running out of the house we were working on yelling for us to throw everything on the truck because we had to go right that minute.
me: what on earth?
son: he got a call his adult son had been in a very serious accident. no one knew more details.
me: i know that fear. i felt it driving to the hospital when i got a call from a nurse telling me you were in the er and that i should drive carefully. my mind went numb. my body went numb. then i headed for the hospital numb all over, panicked, oozing fear, praying . i know that fear.
email from my friend whos' daughter, Maria, was born beautiful and healthy. at 16 months she began to regress to the horror and fear of her parents. she had seizures, violent, long seizures. she had symptoms of autism, epilepsy, on and on it went. The name of the beast was Rhett's disease. mostly young girls, unseen at first, attacks in early years. I met my friend on an airplane flight. Conversation began. He was angry, in despair, trying all the self-help books, all the "if you have enough faith" churches, all the speaking it so that it would be so and nothing was helping her. He was terrified that he and his wife would die without enough resources to provide for their daughter. He was working harder and harder to make money. At home he was part of a 24 hr. a day care team. At home his daughter would not know him when he came home, she could not walk, she screamed and writhed in horrific siezures. She threw herself against the wall. Hospital trip after hospital trip.
We stayed in touch sporadically. We had talked about Christ on that plane. As the year's passed and no change happened for Maria, her father began to change. He surrendered. He began to talk about God in our emails. Time passed. He took his daughter to a state of the art program with hope that their holistic approach would help. Nothing changed except that somewhere in those years Maria recognized her father for the first time.
Time passed. Maria will soon be 19 years old. My friend has been part of a group of people putting together an organization for people like Maria. He sent me an email with a link I will share. She is an angel. He has always been right about her being an angel. He speaks of God with a deep love now. He has seasoned.
He is having major surgery on his neck to remove spurs. He says he has been in horrible pain for years. The doctors have finally found the source of the pain. He has never mentioned his pain to me.
He sent the link below. Brain Restoration Ministeries is a fledgling organization born out of the seasoning of many parents and friends. The first story you hear is theone told by my friend and his lovely daughter Maria.
www.
Maria's mother is a pharmacist and has a long list of studies shown with her picture as part of the team of professionals working to find help for these children.
As my friend asks,
"What's One Life Worth?"
Monday, February 2, 2015
VERY SHORT BURST OF WTF
Training for a new job with the same company. customer service. i can do that with both eyes shut and my ankles tied together. BUT they have all these dang apps and codes and stuff like: go to the third tree on your right, circle it four times EXACTLY, run back into the house and try to get the username and password into that itty bitty space before it times out and then I, rock scientist supreme, realize that I can run from here to China but it ain't gonna work cause I, the wisest of the wise, have transposed the last two numbers of the userid and it will be a cold day in you know where before I can access the holy grail I am seeking.
I shrink into my chair and, with trembling hands, chat the trainers. I tell them that I knew I was crazy but I had no idea I was dyslexic! I could almost hear them collectively shout...
I shrink into my chair and, with trembling hands, chat the trainers. I tell them that I knew I was crazy but I had no idea I was dyslexic! I could almost hear them collectively shout...
wtf!!
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