I’ve seen a lot of really weird, sometimes disturbing stuff lately. In several moments over the past few months, I’ve paused to reflect on something unusual that I’ve seen happen – everything from finding a dead body in New Orleans in July to a random car weaving in-and-out of traffic, and I’ve been impressed with God. I mean that perhaps overly literally – I have seen God working in mundane and fantastic circumstances. And while in the past I might simply have gone about my way, I’m learning to slow down and watch what is happening. To see God in everything around me. So here is my journal of what I see, and how God is working around me.
Manda and I went to her house to pick up some headache medicine around 5:00 today. On the way back to the BSU, we pulled up to a stop sign and in the yard to our right was an elderly man standing over a slightly-less-elderly woman laying flat on her back. Manda told me to get out and see if they needed any help. I jumped out of the truck and called to the man, who informed me that his wife was inside, calling 911. I asked if there was anything we could do, and he told us no. Then he said, “She thinks she’s broken her back.” The woman, who up to this point had been moaning wordlessly on the ground, called out, “Thank you, sir!” The man then said, “She said thank you.” I asked once more if we could help in any way, and he said no, then flashed us the thumb-and-forefinger-makes-a-circle ‘okay’ sign. I got back into the truck and we left, calling 911 on our way out to verify that someone had been called.
I’ve seldom felt so helpless in my life. There was literally nothing that we could do besides leave, and yet I didn’t want just to leave them there. Perhaps most eerie about the whole event was how calm both of them were. The woman was twitching and moaning faintly, but not as much as I would’ve expected. And the man merely stood quietly over her, watching and waiting. I didn’t know how to help. I couldn’t help. It’s a good reminder that some things are too big for me.
On the way back from dinner with Dustin, we saw a red car in front of us with what appeared to be a sheep sticking its head out of the passenger window (I always thought one sheep should be called a shep).
Turns out it was a just a furry dog. Which was disappointing.
Hey JR,
I Like your post. it is very thoughtful and it brings up questions I have long considered. What to do when you want to help but cannot (for whatever reasons)? What does say about me that I want to help so badly that when I cannot it brings up some very emotional and perhaps self-obsessed questions.
On a slightly less serious note. I once saw a goat in the back of an early 80s Buick when I was driving to StL to pick my brother up from the airport. I was kinda weird.