One of those days

We were busy yesterday - washing laundry, cleaning the house, finishing Christmas presents. I knew it was going to be a crazy day. I just didn't know how crazy. The morning was chaotic, but fairly normal. We made Christmas cookies, wrapped presents, vaccuumed the floor, washed clothes - normal stuff. I got the kids fed and down for naps and about 1:00 the doorbell rang. There was a strange man standing on my doorstep with a giant bush in a bag. I was very surprised. I can't think of a single person I know who would send me a giant bush. First of all, my husband would never send me flowers. He buys them while he's at the store sometimes, but SEND them? No way. And second, everyone knows that I kill virtually every plant I touch. So, why send me a giant bush? Well, the guys drives away in his van, and I unwrap my surprise. It's my address, but it says it's in sympathy to someone named Sarah from Allied Insurance. Nice. No one sent ME a giant bush after all. But, what exactly is a person supposed to do with a giant bush that isn't for them? I didn't know. I tried the number on the card and it was disconnected. I tried Allied Insurance, and they didn't know anything. I tried the flower place, and they didn't know either, but they sent the same guy back to pick it up. He brought me a rose for my honesty. So, my husband walks in after work with a VERY puzzled look on his face. "Who sent the rose?" he asked. "Oh, a strange man just showed up at my door and gave it to me," I replied. And, then of course, I had to explain.
Life went back to normal for about 2 hours. And, then Kylie decided to eat a lightbulb. I was working on the computer. Caleb was in the bathroom helping Ethan with his bath, and Kylie was innocently drinking juice. I turn around to check on her and notice she has a lightbulb in her mouth - the thin kind with the pointy end. I screech at her to get it out of her mouth, and then realize she actually bit the end off of the lightbulb! I tried to fish it out of her mouth, but sure enough, she swallowed it. Now, what kind of kid eats lightbulbs is beyond me. I mean, it's not like they taste like candy or anything. Anyway, I called poison control to see if they had to pump her stomach or something, but they said she would probably be alright. At least we didn't have to drag her and Ethan to the emergency room at 8:30 at night - again.
What exactly do days like that mean? Completely random things that I have absolutely no control over happen all at once and make my life nuts. It reminds me how little control I actually have over anything. Good thing God knows what's going on.

So I'm finally writing again. It seems like life around here is crazy all the time with one thing or another. I've been watching the news recently about the shootings in Westroads in Omaha and at the church and Youth with a Mission in Colorado. The violence is so sad and senseless. At least in Colorado, the man targeted people for a specific reason. In Omaha, the killer seemed to choose a location completely randomly and people for no reason at all. Neither of these men knew whose lives they were destroying. They simply felt such hatred for life - even their own - that they were determined to end as much life as possible. I grieve not only for the victims but for the shoooters. How much sorrow, turmoil, and despair led up to that end moment? What did they feel when they realized the pain hadn't ended as they'd thought it would?
As I was pondering these things, I read John 14:27 one day. "Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful." Peace. Our world is in desperate need of peace. How many people watched the news this last week and were troubled and fearful? If it can happen in Omaha just an hour away in a store I've shopped in multiple times, why not here in my mall with my kids? If it can happen at a church in Colorado Springs, why not my church on Sunday morning? Realism forces us to accept that our church, our mall, our faces could be plastered all over the news as victims of the latest in senseless crime. We should not be surprised that the world is not peaceful - true peace only comes through Jesus. Jesus said He gives us peace that the world cannot understand. Because it's Christmas, I think of the angels singing to the shepherds on the night of Christ's birth, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whome He is pleased." Luke 2:14 His birth, life, death, and ressurection have given us peace that is beyond human ability to understand or explain. I hope that in spite of the busyness of Christmas and the chaos of the world around us, we will all take the chance to relax in the peace that only Jesus can give.