Monday Blues

Today kinda sucked. Nothing REALLY bad happened, nobody died, no equipment or people went in the water, but little was accomplished, we were at each other's throats, expensive mistakes were made, and I felt absolutely gross. "Dog-Lick" is my wife's term of art for feeling this way, and I am tired of this game. I felt edgy coming off my steroids and chemo drugs, and Magnesium supplements only helped so far.

I had a little breakdown this afternoon. A cancer buddy told me that he didn't feel right for another nine months after his stem cell transplant, and the doctors told him two years recovery was normal. I was totally not ready to hear that. You see, I had it in my head that I would do my transplant in July-August, and would be back to normal by Christmas-ish. I was making contingency plans for work, but... I can do this! But, two years?

I have been asking God for a career change for a while now. I am 53 and in good health for my age, other than the cancer (obvi), but I'm just too old to be leading a work crew doing heavy carpentry anymore as a dock builder, but choosing to leave a career vs. being FORCED to leave a career-- that's a horse of a different color. So now what?

While I was thinking about my changed circumstances, I opened my Bible at random to Acts chapter 28. Paul is a prisoner of the Romans and is being sent to Rome to be tried in front of Caesar. God warns him of danger at sea, but he is ignored and they set sail anyway, just trying to get a little farther before the weather pattern changes.

You know, I'm that way a lot. I try to just do a little more before leaving the house, and so I am late. Or I try to get just a little more work done. To work a little later when the weather is good. But it sometimes costs me. That's what happened here too. That "just a little bit more" got them into a horrific storm. After 14 days in the storm, they were shipwrecked and barely escaped with their lives.

Once safely on shore, we found out that the Island was called Malta. The islanders showed us unusual kindness. They built a fire and welcomed us all because it was raining and cold. Paul gathered a pile of brushwood and, as he put it on the fire, a viper, driven out by the heat, fastened itself on his hand. When the islanders saw the snake hanging from his hand, they said to each other, "This man must be a murderer; for though he escaped from the sea, Justice has not allowed him to live." But Paul shook the snake off into the fire and suffered no ill effects. The people expected him to swell up or suddenly fall dead, but after waiting a long timeand seeing nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and said he was a god. There was an estate nearby that belonged to Publius, the chief official of the island. He welcomed us to his home and for three days entertained us hospitably. His father was sick in bed, suffering fromfever and dysentery. Paul went in to see him and, after prayer, placed his hands on him and healed him. When this had happened, the rest of the sick on the island came and were cured. They honored us in many ways, and when we were ready to sail, they furnished us with the supplies we needed.

So here we have Paul, a prisoner. Shipwrecked, cold, hungry. Was he saying "I told you so" under his breath the whole time, having warned the leadership and gotten ignored? Was he asking himself, "Could this Monday get any worse?"

And then he gets snake-bit. I'm pretty sure I would have been a little cranky under the circumstances. But what does he do? He perseveres, and he serves. And then he starts healing people.

When this had happened, the rest of the sick on the island came and were cured. They honored us in many ways, and when we were ready to sail, they furnished us with the supplies we needed.

Paul and company were in a hard place. But instead of complaining, he served. May we, in our individual hard places, find someone to serve in the middle of out troubles. And who knows, maybe God has actually brought us there, specifically for those people we are about to meet?

This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. Psalm 118:24

image by https://www.amazon.com/Shipwreck-Virginia-Engraving-Contemporary-Newspaper/dp/B07C8P1KX1

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