Good morning,
I pray the day finds you well.
Laurie and I had company Easter weekend.
A friend of ours came to visit, we hadn't seen Deborah (Once again, not her real name, but every story goes better with a name attached) for Jee-wiz, I don't know how long. Debbie (Another form of Deborah we are fond of using) has been part of our lives for over 30-years. We have lived life together, raising kids, helping move each other to new houses, supporting each other as we traveled the road of life. A couple of years ago, Deb (Yes, that is short for Deborah. I get tired of typing Deborah so I use Deb a lot. Not that Deborah is a bad name, not at all. Actually Deborah is a great name, a beautiful name, but typing Deborah gets to be tedious so I prefer to just type Deb, which as we all know by now is short for Deborah) moved to a city a couple of hundred miles away and her job keeps her very busy, Covid hit, which didn't help the "getting together" part of our relationship. Now Covid is letting up, and Deb came to visit.
Deb got to the house around 6-oclock on Friday. I had just finished mowing my yard, Jen and Mel's yards, moving firewood from the "drying rick" to the rick by the house and putting wood in the fire pit for a relaxing fire on our patio. Laurie had all sorts of goodies out to eat on the kitchen island. She had a wonderful pasta salad, a humas plate, and these new chips that she got at the store.
I started the fire in the fire pit, we got our goodies and sat down around the fire and began to "catch up" with each other. Deb told us about her new job, and how good it felt to make such a positive impact in her community. As she talked both Laurie and I felt pride welling up in us to know such a wonderful human being and count her as our friend. Laurie and I shared what we had been up to and the conversation went on for hours. Towards the end of the evening Deb commented on how good the chips were. Laurie was glad that she liked them and started to talk about how good these chips are for you. Laurie said, one of the big reasons they are better for you than "regular" chips is that they are made from vegetables.
I started pondering about the difference between these chips and "regular" chips. I agreed that these chips did taste really good, but better, I wasn't so sure. Sometimes, I just want regular chips, so I couldn't say they were better. I also began to ponder the vegetable piece of the equation. Aren't Potato chips made from potatoes, and if not, what are they made from? And what about Corn chips, aren't they made out of corn? Aren't both Corn and Potatoes vegetables? I pondered this and pondered this. If you can explain the difference please tell me. I still can't figure out why these new chips were better for us.
The conversation continued for quite some time. We talked and ate, and ate and talked. All of a sudden Deborah stood up with a shocking look on her face. She stopped talking, that is when I knew something was wrong. When Deb isn't talking something is wrong. She always has lots of words to use every day. Laurie looked at her and said, "Are you choking?" Debbie shook her head yes. She was choking on one of those chips that were so good for her. I bet she didn't think it was so good for her at the moment, just say-in.
I can't remember if I've ever told you, I am a certified lifeguard and have lifesaver training. Laurie said, "Roger do something." So, I dug into my training and started running around the house yelling, "Help, Help, Deborah is choking!! Actually, I was happy to see that my training just kicked in. I did the Heimlich maneuver, which is now called the abdominal thrust because of copywrite issues. She was still not talking. I bent her over and did a couple of back slaps. Debbie stands up straight, breathes in deeply and began talking again.
Catastrophe averted!
Deb, looks at me and says, "Roger, I appreciate you for saving my life, but I still get Laurie in the divorce."
I immediately started thinking about Jesus.
Here it was Easter weekend, the weekend where Jesus died and raised from the dead. The week before His crucifixion He did all these amazing things, which He had done His entire life. the week before Easter was the pinnacle. And, after all that the people decide to free Barrabas a murderer free instead and kill Jesus (For more on this topic read the Gospels).
I started to feel like Jesus (Not that Laurie is anywhere near what Barrabas was, although she threatened to kill me a time or two) I had just saved Deborah's life and she cast me aside.
Funny thing was, my mother told me the same thing on my wedding day. She said, "You screw this up, we are keeping Laurie."
I must clarify something though. Laurie and I are not getting a divorce (I like to think she couldn't live without me, but actually it is the other way around). We have been together a long time and will stay this way until the end.
I still love Deborah, just as Laurie loves Deborah. I still love her even though she cast me aside. You know what is the coolest part? Christ/God still loved His people even though they had cast Him aside. He loves me too!
It feels good to have something in common with Christ. Even if it just being cast aside.
Something to ponder.
Blessings,
Roger
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