Up and Down Day

Woke up this morning with a knot in my gut………..but that didn’t stop me from taking a shower, feeding the animals and getting ready for church. By the end of this day, I’m feeling much better.

The wind was blowing ferociously. Thank heavens for no snow. It would have been a blizzard. But factoring in the wind chill made it feel like it was in the single digits. Reports are that the wind is going to die down soon, but even without the wind chill, we will be in the single digits by morning. Suppose to stay this way for the next 5-7 days. Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

Church was awesome, as always. I went to second service today, because we held a “meet and greet” for new people that are interested in going to Rwanda next summer. It is always invigorating to me to share my Rwanda experiences and listen to those from others.

We have a new thing in our church called “Grandmother of the Day” ….. one for each service. They ask the congregation questions and then pick someone to have a church Grandma for the day. Today the pastor said that there hadn’t been anyone sign up to be the “Grandma” for second service, so he asked me if I would be willing to do it. Of course I said YES. He gave me two tickets for our Christmas Concert to give to the couple chosen to come up. As it turned out, these folks were new to our church - - - their very first Sunday. They moved from Colorado to Idaho Falls and then to here, the Tri-Cities. The wife came up, but the husband didn’t until afterwards. She initially raised her hand, because she said that her husband truly did miss his Grandma. What a neat, neat couple. I really hope that they come to church again.

And the most interesting thing about the whole meeting for me was their names. Hers was Leslie, his was Bill. To non-family members, those names may not mean much. So now I need to bring the rest of you up-to-date. In 1955 I was involved in a car-train wreck. My uncle was driving, breaking a leg. My cousin Jim was in the front seat, as was I. This was before seatbelts. I flew through the front windshield, landing on my head. I had a brain concussion and a blood clot on my brain. The back of the car was torn from the front, killing my brother “Leslie” and my cousin “Billy”. And this wreck occurred one week before Christmas – on December 18th. God is trying to tell me something. I just hope I can be open enough and willing enough to LISTEN.

It may have been an up-and-down day, but certainly ended with UP.  Life is a choice.  I choose Life and I choose Up.