Grace in the new year

First post of 2007…zippity doo dah. There’s more important stuff to talk about.

We had some really nasty weather going on late Thursday/early Friday morning. I was in the middle of typing something around 2am…ish when the power went out. Since my laptop’s in the shop, I was using the desktop. Being used to the battery backup, I neglected to save, and it resulted in losing an hour of typing. So I had a few colorful descriptions of the situation and went to bed, ticked off.

And now I look back, and I’m suddenly a retard. Some friends of mine from high school lost their house and nearly their baby just a little earlier.

I first met Hugh in driver’s ed class back in…1992? Seems like forever ago. He transferred to my high school that year, and we shared a number of classes and played football together. His wife, Wendy, was a couple years behind me. In fact, I think she was in the 10th grade when I took her to my senior prom in 1996. I was invited to their wedding a couple years ago, and they had a baby just this past year, who they named Kenzie. In short, they’re just a really nice couple I’ve known for quite a few years.

And while I was whining about my computer losing some meaningless typing, these friends had been thrown from their trailer home as it was shredded to bits by an F-2 tornado, with their baby snatched away in the wind. If that doesn’t put things in perspective, I don’t know what does.

But the story isn’t as tragic as it could have been, by far. Hugh was hurt in the process, but they found the baby lying face-up in a mud puddle a short distance away…her crying alerted them to her whereabouts. Kenzie stayed overnight at a local hospital, and Hugh stayed until yesterday, as he had a separated disc. They lost everything they had, save for what could be found on the ground. I understand a fund has been set up at the bank where Wendy works in order to help them out in this rough time for them.

So I want to thank Jesus for His watchcare and love towards all. This could have easily been far worse than it was, and it was bad enough, but they still have each other. They have good jobs, so they should pull through the housing and financial problems this situation has and will cause. Their baby’s quite healthy, and they have a huge extended family who stands by to help. In fact, one of the baby’s great grandfathers is most senior active deacon in our church. Talk about being blessed in the new year. Hopefully this will make them, and all of us, realize our dependence upon our Lord in this new year and enable new blessings we’d have missed out on before.

Meanwhile, the temporary loss of my laptop and an unsaved document doesn’t amount to a hill of beans anymore.