Tradegy Strikes Again

Smoke is billowing in the valley and Lynn tells me it is Andy's produce shed. Fire engines are racing towards the smoke and I know why. I rarely know why. Fire engines howl past our home all the time leaving me curious,oh for a scanner. But I know now,not again! This family....I start to make calls.

Andy is young, in his late sixties (I'm guessing), has had some bypass surgery (don't quote me,medical stuff I always botch)and suffers with diabetes. He moves slow, he talks slow but don't let that fool you! His insides are that of an eager twenty year old ready to tackle new ideas, new means and ways! His humor is intack and he sees life through that lense. Talking with Andy is a savored pleasure, he is honest, silly, serious, and loves Jesus with deeds. There is always someone living with Andy and his wife Lucille, always.

Later in the evening, around nine, I drive up their lane to their newly built home (wonder how long it's been built). Andy with two other men are sitting at his kitchen table. He smiles, it takes him a while to direct his face to do what his insides are commanding. I ask what in the world. He answers, "God is trying to slow me down." Is that what first came to you I ask him. He shakes his head smiling, not the first but maybe the second....

Slowly this man races through a day with a todo list that would scare a vibrant young man. He comes home at nine after grading peppers. This day he was in Hershey. His wife didn't want him to go, but he did anyway. He wanted to hear about the latest pepper and cantalope varieties. This is one of the most innovative farmers in the Twin Valley region. If I were a farmer I would be asking Andy many questions grabbing any information I could.

In the morning hours delivering peppers to an auction he stops along the way and purchases flowers for his wife. His grandson, soon off on a mission trip, asks him why he does this. Andy tells him it's good to scare up flowers for your wife. Little does Andy know that these flowers would come to her at the end of a very bad day.

Lucille, his unique wife, is a chaplain at a local retirement center, a missionary's child spending more time in Africa in her formative years than America. Her day has been spent relishing in God's goodness. Acme accepts their peppers, her faith mounts. The hail the day before has blemished them slightly,they have put a lot of money in this crop, and she was nervous!She ends her day at a tent meeting,it is here word comes to her of the fire.

The kitchen table is now filling up with more people. Lucille returns home from her day with her dear intercessory friend, Becky. Glenn whose daughter has married Andy and Lucille's son sits down, the pastor leads us in prayer. Church, pure church. I am priviled to be in the midst of a couple with a community represented by hands holding one another's hands honoring God in the midst of the rubble.

This is not the first fire that this couple experiences. This is not their first tradegy. They are veterans, polished sufferers and they know what comes first. Prayer. Lucille utters her understanding that the decisions they face in the morning will be varied and difficult but she and Andy know who will guide them and first comes first, prayer.

Who are the people of substance in your life that offer hope in the midst of a fire? They don't have time to seek you out, they are busy walking the road Jesus laid out for them. Find them and with the love of Jesus they will welcome you in their life and allow you front row seats to see hope mount from tragedy.