On a good day, parenting will test the integrity of your character. On a bad day, parenting will test your will to live. Parenting children with trauma histories will cause you to test the integrity of everything and everyone you thought you knew, for the rest of your life.
~J. Skrobisz

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

When you're not even looking ...


Most of the time, when stuff happens in life, you might immediately think huh.  God's not watching this little episode.  Then when those "little episodes" in life just keep happening and you just keep thinking God's not watching, it can get you down in the mouth quickly.  But every now and then, God lets you know, "Uh.  Yeah.  I've seen every second of it and you didn't even know I was watching your back."  Of course, He has a way of saying it with a little snicker and glimmer in His eye so you have no choice but to laugh with Him instead of kick yourself in the pants.

For the record, I think I have permanent shoe prints on my back end.

Yes, the AC went out and it was blazing hot.  No, we didn't really have money to fix it, that is to say, we had available credit on the plastic, credit that has to be paid off with interest.  Yes, we dodged the compressor bullet narrowly and I did think to thank God for that.  But last night, when the house was creeping past 82 degrees at 9 o'clock again, I felt a little, well, cooked.

So this morning, our HVAC man came back, bright and early. I was at the dentist with the three kids. Sissy had a mild anxiety attack, AB kicked, hit, pulled my hair, punched and tried to bite me and WG skipped out knowing the x-ray showed four teeth are loose. The Dad stayed at the house. Lucky man.

HVAC man took a look at the pipe that leads the freon into the unit in the house. Bent. Smashed. Banged up. None of those words really do that above picture any justice. And this damage? Most likely happened at the time of installation 28 years ago.

The question is, not who banged it up, not how it got banged up but rather, how in blue blazes did that machine ever run for one single day?!? You can't even look through the pipe it's so mangled and yet the freon just kept flowing through it somehow, the compressor never frying in the process for TWENTY-EIGHT YEARS. HVAC guy is just as befuddled as we are, he's taking this 6 inch piece of pipe and framing it at the shop as proof that the techs just never know what they're up against when they service a machine ... or just how amazing the older units are at doing the job they were built to do.

A 28 year old Rheem that doesn't just take a licking, it is beat to crap and it is still pumping cool air. It defies the odds, boggles the mind and over all, makes me super glad I've got the Big Guy on my side, even through all of life's little episodes. It's never easy living on this celestial sphere that rotates and orbits and moves within the galaxy that moves within the universe. It can be argued that raising challenged kids makes it harder. Overall, as long as you make an effort to live a life that honors God, somehow, in some strange, obscure way, He's going to let you know that He's got His eye on your life, that he's helping you stay cool through all of life's mishaps. Sometimes literally.

Today I got a bent up piece of copper tube to remind me.

4 comments:

GB's Mom said...

Isn't it nice when he has your back!

Happymom4 aka Hope Anne said...

Two words--"WOW GOD!"

Mama Drama Times Two said...

What a great visual symbol to surround you with gratitude. Some families hang a cross in their house as a reminder...I think framing the copper pipe is a good reminder, too.

Jeri said...

I know you'll get this...I just knew I was going to read about a RADical child being responsible for the kink. Glad He has your back (and mine, even when it feels like He must be looking anywhere but here).