Life is sweet. There are just interludes, for one reason or another, during which life is sweeter than normal. Maybe they follow a brush with eternity or a particularly difficult trial. I'm not sure. But this is such a time. For the first ten or fifteen years of our marriage, Kevin or I would suddenly look over at the other and say, "These are happy times." I don't remember what brought that saying into being, but it was our code phrase for "We may have been fighting yesterday, but today, I love you so much and everything is really good." I know, not much of a code, but then again we never claimed to be James Bond. We have had a lot of happy times since, but we've gotten out of the habit of saying that phrase. Don't know why. Maybe I should start it again now.

Yesterday afternoon, we kayaked -- about a four hour float -- with our two daughters, and my sis and bro-in-law and nephew-by-heart (from Czech Republic.) We have several double kayaks and all stay together and mostly to ourselves. FUN for the most part! But my sister and I got separated from the rest once (Okay, I confess, we got hung up in a rapids and had to get out of our double kayak and get a new start at that particular challenge. By then the rest of our group was out of sight.) and WHEW. We quickly remembered why we don't usually get out on the river late on Saturday. Guys in canoes (and along the banks) kept offering us beads (For those of you not familiar with the awful tradition, the moral-less men start the journey with several strings of brightly colored beads around their necks. When a woman flashes them (with her top) they give her beads. SO by the end of the trip, the women are the ones with all the necklaces.) but we ignored the offers, of course. One man finally tossed a couple of necklaces into our kayak. He said, "If I had a wife, I'd want her to be as ladylike as you two are." We didn't put them on, but we did tease our husbands for a brief second when we caught up to them by holding the beads up and saying, "Look what we got." (Just to serve them right for leaving us stranded in the rapids.)

Anyway, we got home late, showered, and had fried squash with onions and cheese to go with lasagna and texas garlic cheese toast for supper. Yum. This morning, the guys cooked breakfast before church. Had a wonderful worship service! After church, we went to the lake and took my sis and bro-in-law's pontoon boat out for a ride, anchored in a little cove, ate sandwiches, and swam. They've decided that's an old wives' tale about waiting so long after eating to swim. Did you know that? Had to kind of hurry to make it back for church tonight at five.

During the sermon tonight, a man snored out loud and I think a few people snickered, but then we heard people talking behind us and when we turned around, a couple of the men were having to lift him out of the pew. His heart had stopped. They did CPR (I was relieved. Remember, Kevin and I just certified a few months ago, and I was afraid we were about to prove whether we'd really learned it or not.) I gathered all the kids (about 10) and took them back to a classroom, where we prayed for the man and sang songs. Not to shelter them necessarily but just because I thought if they couldn't revive him especially, the kids would be better off not out there. He did finally start breathing on his own again and the last word we had, they're taking him on to Little Rock, but he's okay! Praise God!!!

After church tonight, we had a youth devotional at the gym. Brace yourself. I actually played BASKETBALL! I had a blast. Even scored eight points or so. Lucky shots. But it was fun. Tonight when we got home, Kevin said, You seemed like yourself again today and yesterday. (I've been having health issues for the past month or so.) I felt like myself again too. Only better! See what I mean? Life is sweet.

# posted by Christine Lynxwiler at 11:26 PM

COMMENTS:

What a great, great post! These are happy times! I love it. The whole post was about happy times. :)

You warm my heart. Rachel

# posted by  Rachel Hauck at 11:44 AM

 

And you can't buy those sweet moments for all the money in the world. :) Hugs~

# posted by  Lynette Sowell at 11:32 PM

 

I'd give you a bead necklace to see you play B-ball.
:)
Great post. Love you.

# posted by  Tracey Bateman at 7:29 PM

 

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My sister, Jan, and her husband, Steve, were on their way to our house for the weekend yesterday. A train buzzed along the tracks on the right next to them. Suddenly, my bro-in-law yelled, "TRAIN WRECK!" My sis looked up to see the huge cylindral shaped cars rolling off the track into the ditch. As the train cars hit the ground, a white cloud of some kind of dry chemical filled the air. Steve jerked the truck to the left (Thankfully no cars were coming) and went off over a one foot drop-off (road construction) then cut through a field to another highway. Jan called 911 and once they were far enough away, they got out and tried to stop traffic so that people wouldn't get near enough to breathe the unidentified hazardous chemical. (That's what the news reports call it, we still don't know what it was.) Only two people stopped. One listened to Steve and turned around and went back the way he came. The other one scoffed and said, "Oh, I doubt there's really anything hazardous" and went on his merry way. Of course, the fact was there was no more thru traffic that day so even that man did eventually have to turn around I'm sure.

We were so thankful to see them alive after their close call, but this morning I got to thinking about the people Steve tried to stop and couldn't and the two who did stop to hear what he had to stay. Isn't it that way when we try to share the gospel? Most people just keep on driving and occasionally one will stop to scoff, before going on. But then there's the one who believes the truth and turns around. That makes it all worth the effort.

BTW, the train apparently derailed because excess heat warped a train rail. Thankfully, according to news reports there were no major injuries as a result, although several cars had dents and broken windshields, etc.

Keep telling the truth. Someone will believe it! :) Peace and love to you all!

I've read three fantastic books this week - In Dreaming in Black and White by Laura Jenson Walker I fell in love with the characters, the movie references, and the best job of characterizing a single Christian woman since Kristin Billerbeck's Ashley Stockingdale series. I highly recommend it! I jumped right from that into Sadie In Waiting by Annie Jones. Wow. All the feelings I've had, Sadie had. Talk about relatable. She isn't a heroine who always does or says the right thing. Instead she does and says the real thing. Great book! If you get a chance, definitely pick it up! Today when I got the mail, I had Tiger Lillie by Lisa Samson. It was so good I read it all today. Just finished it. Wow. Powerful story, fantastic writing, and such a unique voice! I was really moved by the gripping story and characters that just jumped off the pages into your heart.

We spent the afternoon at the pool. Yes, that was me all relaxed in the lounge chair reading Tiger Lillie, with Kevin beside me reading Thunder of Heaven by Ted Dekker. :) In spite of all the R and R, today has been one of the worst days healthwise since I got sick a couple of weeks ago, so I'd appreciate your prayers.

A friend recently shared this familiar psalm with me.(Thanks, A.) May the words comfort you as much as they have me.

I lift up my eyes to the hills--
where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
He will not let your foot slip--
He who watches over you will not slumber;
indeed, He who watches over you
will neither slumber nor sleep.
The Lord watches over you--
the Lord is your shade at your right hand;
the sun will not harm you by day,
nor the moon by night.
The Lord will keep you from all harm--
He will watch over your life;
the Lord will watch over your coming and going
both now and forevermore."

AMEN!