I've had quite the weekend! It has really taught me to trust in the Lord even more and served as yet another reminder of how little we're actually in control of!
It started Thursday evening (technically not part of the weekend), when the school that our group usually plays basketball at was closed. We decided to try a local sports club. It cost each of us $10 to get in, and we were WAY out of our league! Many of the guys we played against had incredible 3-point shooting, several could dunk, and one had moves that I've never seen outside the NBA! And as if that wasn't bad enough, when I left, I was so frazzled that I forgot to take my boots! I called the gym as soon as I got home, to ask them to keep the boots for me, but when I got there the next day to pick them up, they were nowhere to be found!We looked at a couple stores in town, on our way sledding at Great-Grandma's house (can you see the irony, by now???), but nobody had boots. Middle of winter, and the major department stores don't have boots!!! When I came to WalMart, the lot was packed! Fortunately, there was a handicapped parking spot available, so I used it. Now, my wife has an auto-immune condition, which has
severly impaired her movement, and we have a parking permit for her. I've NEVER used it inappropriately... until this day! Even though she was in the car with us, I was the only one who was going to go inside. But I had no time to waste looking for a spot half a mile away! So I got out and began rummaging through the trunk for the cell phone, so my wife could call her grandma, to let her know we would be late. While I'm doing this, a lady in a car stops behind me and starts interrogating me on the legitimacy of my choice of parking spot. After truthfully explaining my situation and intent, she told me I was illegaly parked and to move. Apparently, she WAS handicapped in some way and was determined to get a good spot. Annoyed, but knowing that she was indeed in the right, I complied. There is nothing worse than getting caught red-handed, is there! As a Christian, I try to be a good example and follow all the laws, but sometimes when I'm in a hurry, I speed. Or when I can justify myself ("I'm just copying this song so my dad can hear it"), I infringe on copyrights. But God has called us to not only follow His laws, but also those of the land. This was in important lesson to me and has motivated me anew to follow the laws as strictly as I can.
That evening was when I started this blog, and while I was looking for a cool new template and other folks' blogs, my laptop went CRAZY! It started popping up Internet ads like mad, until I just turned off my wireless connection, in order to prevent further mayhem. Turns out I got several spyware programs onto my laptop. I'm very careful about these things and still have no idea how they got on there. Since I work with computers all the time, I guess it's unavoidable that one of my main weaknesses is fretting when they break. If something is wrong with one of our computers, that's all I can think about, until it's fixed. I spent until 3AM that night trying to get the spyware off, with only partial success. It wasn't until this morning that I ran across SpyBot, which is an AWESOME tool that finds and deletes over 100,000 varieties of spyware! I put up a link, in case one of you has an issue with spyware or pop-ups, or are just curious if there is any spyware on your system. Praise the Lord for this program!!! That's all I can say.
Saturday, we tried to go skiing at a local mountain that's only about an hour away... only I forgot to get GAS!!!!! DUH!!!!! We were already half-way up the mountain, when I noticed the gas gauge near empty. At first, I thought I had enough to get all the way to the lodge and back down, but as the windy road wore on, I began to worry. It wasn't long before the "idiot light" came on, letting me know that I was very stupid for forgetting to get gas back when I still had the chance. By now I realized our only hope was if we could get some gas at the lodge. It began to snow. When we got there, the parking lots were packed! I had never seen it so busy! I asked an employee about gas, and he said they had some I could buy... 
for $6 a gallon! OUCH!!! But what can you do?? I would have paid $50, if it meant getting home. Oh, and did I mention the roads were pretty bad, and I forgot to bring along the chains for our Honda Accord? (Wouldn't have done much good anyway, since I found out this morning that the ones I had from our old car were the wrong size! Hahahahaha!!!) Anyway, I was so frazzled, that I decided to just go home, without skiing. That was just fine with my 8-year-old son, who's only in his second season of skiing and dreads going on the infamous "Chairlift 3".
On our way back, we stopped at a gas station to give my $6 gallons of gas some much needed company, and also to go through their car wash. Everything went fine, until the automated system spit us out. I put the car in gear, but when I pressed the pedal, we did not move! The wheels just spun in place, stuck in a pothole made in the snow. I backed up a bit and tried again, but we were still stuck. I looked behind and started to back up, when I noticed that 
another car had already entered the wash behind us! I tried again, but were still stuck!!! Yikes!!! Was this car wash smart enough to stop, if it sensed another vehicle in the system, or would we have a lovely fender-bender, to continue my lovely weekend? I did NOT want to find out. I backed up as far as I could, before something stopped me (probably the automated wheel track) and slammed on the accelerator. WE MADE IT!!! Phew!!Not such a bad weekend, now that I think back on it, but full of frustrating moments. You know, when we look back at the hard times in our lives, we realize how the Lord's hand was always there, guiding us, pulling us through. After all, what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger. And what DOES kill you only brings you into His Everlasting Presence (if you're a born-again child of God, that is!). So what have we to worry about?? Trust and obey is the way!!
3 comments:
LOL! What a weekend you had!
You're right. I think days (weekends) like that come along just to teach us some lessons!
I appreciate that you don't take advantage of Farrah's handicap permit. I have seen others who think that just because they are in possession of such a permit they are allowed to park in the special spaces... never mind that the permit was issued to a family member who is not even with them! I am convinced that's why there are so many handicapped spots everywhere you go. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe there really are that many disabled people all out shopping at once. But I just betcha a bunch of 'em are family members who just took advantage of having the right tag. That bugs me. (Although, if I were you, I would have been tempted to have Farrah get out, just to prove to that woman you had a legitimate right to the space! But, again, that wouldn't have been very Christ-like, would it?)
That being said, I'll confess to the one-and-only time I abused a handicap permit. It was dark and rainy and late at night in a big city. I pulled up to run inside a grocery store for just one thing. All the lit spaces up next to the store were marked handicapped. There were several of them and most were empty. Further out, the parking lot was dark. I happened to be driving my sister's van which has a handicap tag for the benefit of my little nephew who is disabled, and was not with me. So... I admit... I took advantage... rationalizing that it was dark, there were other empty spaces, I was only going to be a minute... yada, yada, yada. Okay. I'll never do it again.
Ooooooooooh! You added pictures! Sweet! Love the one with the guy in front of his computer. I know how he feels! Hey, he even looks kind of like you! Too funny!
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