Locusts, Lice, Flies?

I'm sure the title of this post sparked your curiosity.  I'll get to the punchline in a minute.  First, just to update everyone, Marc was finally admitted to the hospital today around noon.  Along with trying to start the nutritional therapy (TPN), they will be assessing his gastric tube and picc line.  Both are not working as well as they should and need some maintenance.   

They have done an x-ray to determine if his picc line is still in a good position to accommodate the TPN fluids.  Haven't heard the results yet.  He did have his labs done right away and those results had everyone in an uproar.  Apparently his potassium is at 1.4 -- terribly low and makes it impossible to give him the TPN without causing major heart problems.   Right now he is receiving a potassium i.v. and will have his levels tested again in the morning.  Hopefully then he will be able to start taking the TPN.

Now, for the humorous....sort of.  Yesterday I was frustrated with the number of urgent matters that were consuming my attention and energy -- Marc's impending move to the hospital and all the arrangements and paperwork necessary to make that happen, Julia's rash, and Sophia's burns.  Seemed like one calamity after another plaguing my life.  All of them issues that demanded my involvement -- I couldn't put any of it off and it was (is) overwhelming.  I remarked yesterday to a couple of friends that the next thing to happen would be swarms of locusts descending on our home.  That was me being sarcastic and dramatic.  Ha.  Well, imagine my amusement this morning as the kids and I were eating breakfast and a couple of hornets went buzzing by.  Hmm.  No need to be alarmed, right?  Just get the fly swatter, yell a lot, and smoosh them into oblivion.  Problem solved.  Not exactly.  Julia headed upstairs to get dressed and said there was another one in the stairwell.  I killed that one and then asked her to go check the playroom.  Several years ago we had a nest in our eaves and they would sneak in around the siding and come in through the vents or light fixtures in our bonus room over the garage.  Marc had killed that nest and sealed the hole, but something about the whole scenario triggered an intuition that the same thing might be happening.

It wasn't a minute later and Julia was yelling down the stairs, "Mom, you have to see this!"  As I stepped into the playroom I was met with that all too familiar buzzing.  Bees, hundreds of them, clustered around the lights, hovering in the air, ping-ponging off the windows.  "Where are they coming from?" I shrieked.  The boys spotted their entrance right away.  The nest was in the wall and they had chewed a hole through the sheetrock.  THEY CHEWED A HOLE IN THE WALL!  I hurried the kids downstairs and slammed the door.  Next call was to the exterminator -- one more thing on my crazy list of urgent matters.  Life had become one sick, ironic joke in a matter of minutes.  I felt that hysterical anger rising again.  Why this?   Why now?  Isn't one of the complicated things on my plate enough?  Why more?

I put in my call to the exterminator and headed to town to drop the kids at school.  I then had a nice long, quiet drive home to fume over the state of affairs in my life.  I started thinking about the comment I had made yesterday about the locust.  I wondered why God brought that image to mind in the first place.  I started thinking about dumb old Pharoh and his stubbornness.  His heart was hard and he refused to acknowledge God's power.  As a result of his pride and obstinance he and his people suffered greatly at the hand of God.    Funny how I always think about that story and how it relates to the human being -- Pharoh.  I focus on his cruelty, stubbornness, manipulation, pride, his need for power, and ultimately his destruction.  I then compare my life to Pharoh's and am always relieved.  Well, at least I am not like him.  How could he not see God's power?  If plagues were raining down on me I wouldn't have been that stupid to dismiss God and not listen.  Idiot.  Then it struck me.  Foolish me.  The story isn't about Pharoh.  It's about God, his power, and sovereignty.   Each one of the plagues was miraculous in its own way.  They were all natural phenomenon that could not be ignored or denied.   The story is not just about God's people escaping tyranny and oppression, but in seeing God's wondrous power...right in front of their faces. 

I think I have lost sight of Him in the last few days.  I have been so consumed with the plagues in my life that I have not seen God right in front of my eyes.  No, I don't think God is punishing me with skin lesions and plagues of bugs; however, I think he used the situation to remind me that He is there...all the time.  Very powerful.  Able to perform miracles.  Able to remind me of his goodness.  His protection.   His presence....even if it means sending a swarm of bees to give me a much needed firm (and obvious) reminder.  I don't look back on today and think that God has forsaken me and heaped more on my plate than I can handle.  I look back on today and  know that my focus is back on my Lord, not on my circumstances.   Right where it should always be.

Thanks for the love and support this week.  We covet your prayers.
With love and gratitude....