A Short Story

Once upon a time, in a small southern town, a mother & teacher got dressed for school. She collected her children and loaded the car. The mornings questions consisted of "Why is it still dark outside?" and "Where did the sun go?". The mother calmed their fears and answered their questions. She explained that the sun was hidden behind the dark stormy clouds. They discussed that they would indeed be safe because God was in control and not the dark scary clouds. She called her father, as she did every morning, to make sure he was feeling good and doing fine. Her father warned her that bad weather was headed towards her small town. He said it would bring heavy rain, lightening, and thunder. She was not afraid. He also reminded the teacher that her nephew was on his way to Birmingham to see his Oncologist to have additional testing done on his throat, an area that had recently raised red flags during a routine exam. Of that news, the teacher was indeed afraid. After ending the call, while driving along, the teacher lifted him up to the Lord and prayed for His healing. Peace engulfed the car and all was well as they headed up the hill to daycare. The teacher's son was happy to be at his school and since it was barely sprinkling, the teacher left her umbrella in the car. When she made the return trip to the car, she got a little wet and hoped she could get into the school before it got much worse. She and her daughter had but one umbrella to share and while it was cute and fashionable, it was very small. She assured her daughter, as the rain became increasingly monsoonish, that they would be fine. A little wet, but they would dry. It was then that she opened the door and thought that perhaps they should hurry. They both got out and set the alarm on the car and then it happened...for the first time in her life, the teacher truly understood the phrase "it's raining cats and dogs" for at that exact moment, a wall of water blew like a straight-line wind into their backs. The cute little umbrella surrendered and politely folded up under the pressure giving no protection whatsoever. The teacher and her daughter screamed and ran to the first gate...locked...ran to the second gate...also locked...finally, at the third gate, they were able to get in under the awning. They ran to the door and hurried into her classroom. When they were able to assess each other and the situation, they discovered that they were not wet, they were soaked. They were soaked from head to toe and they were freezing...and they were laughing. It was soon determined that there was just no way to get through the school day in that condition. They headed home to change and start over. They laughed the entire time as they stripped away soaked clothes (every single item they had on) and even had to blow dry their hair. It was humorous and a little unbelievable that they had gotten just that wet in such a short amount of time. They hurried out the door and were pleasantly surprised to see that the rain was gone, the sky was blue, and the sun was beaming down on their small town once again. The teacher made a mental note of how much like life the morning had been. When you least expect it, a storm can come blowing in and totally change the course of your day but if you will just endure the storm, God's mercies are new every morning and the sun will shine again.

As you can guess, this is a true story from this morning. How could we laugh and not get irritated or upset which I would normally be inclined to do...simple, I was only getting wet going to school with my children. My s-brother was getting wet taking his son to an Oncologist for tests. Enough said! We have complete faith and trust that the test results will be clear and Trent will continue to be cancer-free! Our God is mighty to save and He will have victory today!