A Challenging Day

Today has been a challenging day. After several days of summer, winter returned yesterday. Unfortunately, our furnace had already gone on summer vacation. It was not easy to drag myself out of bed this morning. This was one of those mornings when everyone wanted a peace of me. A man who has some health problems and hadn't been in church for a while was there this morning. His son brought him. It was good to see him. The special music this morning was beautiful, and it moved Daughters to tears. I saw her leave worship. The woman she was sitting with indicated she was crying.

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As I was beginning the time with the children, the man had an attack of some kind. The nurses of the congregation converged on him, and someone got the AED while someone else called 911. I prayed for him, then returned to the children and tied the excitement into my conversation with them about the power of God's love.

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You have heard me say before that Tiny Village is very isolated. Our fire protection comes from a volunteer department 10 miles away. It takes them at least 15 minutes to get to us. We sang a hymn, and I went to check out the situation. I preached a sermon and called for the offering, and went and checked on the man. His color had improved, and he was responsive. The squad finally arrived. I wasn't timing them, but a board member said it was 30 minutes. I asked the congregation to remain in their seats until after the medics had gotten the man to the ambulance. They were very obedient.

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After a few more conversations about difficult situations, I came home, thanked the trustees who had called the furnace back to duty, and changed clothes. I dragged Daughter with me to the hospital, where I checked on the man. They were thinking he'd had another small stroke or heart attack. He was doing well. I stood there talking to him in the ER and thinking of all the times I had done this with Dad. In that moment, he reminded me of Dad.

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I took Daughter to lunch, and ran into some members. We had a conversation about their mom, who they just moved to a nursing home. She is having some struggles with confusion. I found myself remembering Mom.

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We ran into the grocery store to get milk and bread, and put them in our insulated bags and headed to track practice. Flasher was there, and Daughter spoke to him briefly. He asked if she'd be at the workshop tomorrow. She told him she wouldn't, and he was frustrated because he was planning to bring her an engagement ring on Monday. So all the way home I heard how she had to be at the workshop tomorrow and she had to follow her heart and she loved Flasher and wanted to spend the rest of her life with him.

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We got home, I gathered my papers, and went over to the church. A couple I'm marrying was waiting for me. We ran through the final plans for the wedding. As they left, the board arrived, along with some guests from the regional church who had come to check on the health of the church and answer their questions. We put a number of business items off until next month so we could be done by 6:00.

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I came home, exhausted. As I was heating up leftovers for supper and talking to Far Away Sister about estate matters, Daughter got a call on her cell phone. She hung up and was sobbing. Flasher's mom called her and told her if she didn't stay away from her son, she was going to call the cops and charge her with harassment. She told Daughter that she was never to talk to her son again.

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It confirms that the decision to pull Daughter out of the workshop was the right one. I'm struggling with the idea of her going to the area track meet next month. I had not planned to go, and I don't know that I want her there with Flasher. I want her to be in Special Olympics, but I don't want her around Flasher. She has suffered enough because of him. I wish I knew the truth of what had gone on between them. I will call Case Manager tomorrow to tel her about what happened today. I'll let the deal with it.