That dreaded phone call....

Philip and I arrived home last evening, after dropping off two church children I had babysat yesterday. The message from Shari on the answering machine was very calm and even: "Hey Mom and Dad, if you could me a call when you get back...even if it's late, it doesn't matter." As I ran up the stairs to do so, my maternal instinct picked up on something...Shari wasn't wanting me to hyperventilate about something. And so I wasn't surprised when she told me Alicia had been involved in an accident.

A couple hours earlier, before we left the house, Alicia had called and chatted with her dad and I about her week and about installing a new chip in her phone. She and her friend Alonna were on their way to a revival meeting at another church in the area. Philip asked her if she had her bluetooth on, and she assured him she did and that she had both hands on the wheel. It was rainy out, but that she was being careful. As we talked, she and Lona came up an accident around which they had to detour, taking another back road that Lona told her about, but with which Alicia was unfamiliar. We cut the call short, because we needed to get the kids back to their mom. But just before we hung up I told her, like all moms do, to be careful and that we were praying for her.

As we found out later, just down the road she slowed down for a curve, but being slippery, her brakes locked and they slid off the road, hitting a tree. Long story short, a friend traveling the same road behind them, saw it happen and got the police and ambulance there. The girls were both taken in and released last evening-- Alicia with a swollen face from the airbag hitting her, and Alonna in a neck brace after a CAT scan and a number of tests.

I know you can imagine what it felt like to be more than 2000 miles away at a time like that--I was shouting inside that I needed to be there, and Philip was really torn up....

I recalled then a verse that had been coming to my mind throughout the previous week, and which even had been on the quiz Carlitos and I had taken on the computer yesterday afternoon: "The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him, and delivereth them." (Psalm 34:6) (When I saw it, I thought, there's that verse popping up again, the same one I've been thinking about...)

Well, I don't think it is coincidental. I really and truly believe God's angels were around the girls last night, protecting them from what could have been a total tragedy. An tragedy that unfortunately has happened to many parents, and one from which God, in His great mercy, chose to spare us.

I slipped into her old room last night to look at the pictures of her on the desk...

Heavenly Father, thank you.

My fingers are crossed!

I know this is crazy to post, but I'm kinda excited about an opportunity I've had to submit a bid and a sample translation on a book, from Spanish back to English. Philip and I have done lots of translating of materials for our own personal use in ministry, but this kind of a freelancing thing is a first.

I would love to take the challenge of this 322-page book...and hope it works out!


Will post more later....we've got prayer meeting in a couple hours.

Morning reflections

I love the early morning.

I guess I've always been a morning person. History states that as a small child I liked to "rise and shine" too early, no doubt at times to my parents' chagrin. Philip hasn't always appreciated my early morning chatter. And I don't recall my girls being too thrilled when I peered though their subconsciousness and roused them sooner than they wished.

There's a song in Spanish that I learned as a child when my parents were attending language school in South Texas 40 years ago. (No comments necessary about that last part...) You've probably heard it even in recent days or months sung by missionaries visiting your church. I have heard the words in English, but don't know them all....so apparently this is for my fellow missionaries today!

Por la mañana yo dirijo mi alabanza
A Dios, que ha sido--y es--mi UNICA esperanza
Por la mañana yo le invoco con el alma,
y le suplico que me dé Su dulce calma.
El nos escucha, (pues nos ama tanto)
y nos alivia de cualquier quebranto.
Nos da Su mano, poderosa y fuerte,
para librarnos de la misma muerte.

Cuando la noche se aproxima, tenebrosa
En elevarle mi oración, mi alma se goza.
Siento Su paz--inagotable, dulce y grata--
Porque temores y ansiedad, ¡Cristo los mata!
También elevo mi cantar al cielo
Cuando a la tierra baja negro velo.
El sol se oculta---¡pero queda Cristo!--
A Quien mis ojos en el sueño han visto.....


This morning my lips and heart move through the many verses of the song, savoring the inspiration and richness of the word picture the songwriter expressed with his pen. I'm awed by the way he expresses his adoration to the Father, encouraged by His faithfulness, and strengthened to meet the challenges of the day. There's no way I could express it any better.

Suffice it to say that today, this very day, God is just exactly what I need.