Insurance

Day 24
Gen 48:1-49:33
Matt 15:29-16:12
Psalm 20:1-9
Proverbs 4:20-27

 Our 14 year old granddaughter, Morgan, went to Montana in August with her friend Katie.   It was to be a last hurrah before the summer vacation wound down.  Morgie's mom and dad were both reluctant to let her go so far away for so long but neither could come up with a valid reason why she couldn't go.  As she was loading her things in Katie's parents car,  Morgan's mom, Abbie, handed Katie's dad an envelope.  "I know this is really unnecessary," she said, "but here is a medical release as well as our insurance information."  And they were off.

Morgan checked in with classic tales of adventures that precious childhood memories are made of.  Everyone relaxed a little knowing our girl soon would be home and all would be right with the world.  One night when our family was out together, Morgan's daddy, Jason got a call from Katie's dad.  Time stood still as the rest of us got one side of the conversation.  "Hey Mark, how's it going?",  "She what?",  "She's cut from where to where?", "How far to the next hospital?", "Plastic surgeon?"  By now Abbie's color had gone from her face.  She was slipping down in her chair as terror gripped every beat of her heart.  Jason relayed "She's okay!" in a stern voice seeing that his wife was about to come undone.  But the one sided conversation continued with no words of reassurance that our little girl was in fact alright.  Morgan was, thankfully, going to be okay.   She and Katie had driven a four wheeler through a wire fence.  Katie came through it unscathed since she was sitting behind Morgan but Morgan's face was sliced in multiple places.  One cut started just below her left eye at the edge of her nose and extending down her left nostril through her upper lip.  Another slash severed her lower lip cutting through the facial nerve and continuing across her right cheek.  There were numerous other lacerations requiring both internal and external stitching.  She was covered in bruises and her poor little face was swollen almost beyond recognition.  She was attended by so many caring and highly qualified professionals that while she is still hosting some obvious scars, the outlook is good.  I understand that to be so brutally marked two weeks before the start of a girl's freshman year is very traumatic.   And while the boldness of staring onlookers did unnerve her and make her feel self-conscious in the beginning, Morgan hasn't gotten too worked up about the superficial look of her face.  Her Gramps was quick to reasure her that boys thinks scars on girls are cool.  And a girl with scars from wrecking a quad is just that much cooler.  But Brent and I talked at length about all the "what-ifs"  and how that could have been "the phone call" that changed our family forever.

In the bible, one tragic story after another is told.  Families seperated for years at at time.  Joseph was just a boy when his jealous brothers sold him to Ishmaelite traders.  It says his father mourned his death.  But I don't see his pain.  I don't get the full effect of these tragedies.  Sometimes it feels like reading the abridged version.  "How- to" books on writing always teach : show don't tell.  They always talk about words and imagery.  Don't say 'Joe-blow was cold' rather show how he was cold.  In reading the bible, it tells rather than shows and it eliminates dwelling on how these people were effected by the loss of their loved ones.  From the time we got the call about Morgan's accident until Jason and Abbie were able to drive to where she was, 24 hours had passed.  It was another 24 hours before the rest of us were able to get our hands on her.  It didn't take a long time but we were all sure we couldn't have endured another moment.  We had been reassured repeatedly that she was okay but until we saw for ourselves that she was fine everything here at home was on hold until we had her home again.

  Recently our news headlines carried the story of Jaycee Lee Dugard who was returned to her family eighteen years after her abduction.  How amazing for her to be reunited with her family, but what horrors she must have endured.  I won't begin to imagine what she and her family have lived through or what new challenges they may face since being reunited.  I don't know if this family believed in God, or if they blamed God for this tragedy or if they saw God in their child being found all these years later.  I don't know how I would react in the face of such horrifying facts.  But I can't imagine facing a parents worst nightmare without God.
The application in my bible sums it up best: We need never despair because we belong to a loving God.  We never know what good He will bring out of a seemingly hopeless situation.

Even with God I tend to limit Him and His abilities.  I let my desperation override His love, mercy and ultimate forgiveness.  My constant stumbling block is my need for His immediacy to my crisis.  If God had an office wall I believe the plaque that would hang on it would read: Your inability to plan ahead does not create a crisis for me.  I have always kept God on a "need to know" basis in my life.  Always inconsistent with reading His word, haphazard with my prayer time, and hit or miss with church attendence.  All the obvious places I might hear from Him.  But let a crisis befall me and I want His direct line.

Being consistently in the word is helping me clean up my act.  I am more aware than ever of His realness and my need for Him in the everydayness of life.  And maybe when the next big moment presents itself whether it be good news or bad I can feel that confidence that He's got it covered.   Kind of like the insurance jingle: "You're in Good Hands with...GOD"