The Master's Touch

I heard morning sounds at five and it woke me up with a start. OH! I thought we all overslept, but no, all was well. I still had to put a load of clothes in the dryer and fold the last load. I had piles of clothes loaded up on the dining room table. Ryan’s was all mixed in with ours so it was just easier to wash everything. Time consuming but at least its done and I don’t have to do laundry on my day off tomorrow – yea!

But anyway… Ryan’s pile of clothes was ready for him. I woke him up with the promise of pancakes. I was so very happy when he was game. Pancakes at 5:00 in the morning, not me, but I would gladly make them for my boy/man. I enticed him awake from his self-appointed sleeping spot on the couch, my couch, (my self-appointed sleeping spot when I can’t sleep and Jim is snoring like a steam engine) with pancakes in his face.

He finishes, takes a shower, puts on his favorite shirt that had been lost the whole time he was home (lost in the bottom of the laundry basket.) After that, he proceeds to take the lovely, nicely folded pile of clothes that I had lovingly waiting for him, and stuffs them all into his sea bag! Oh my goodness, why did I bother to fold them?

He goes his slow pace, wandering through the house, looking for this and that and wishing he had charged his Ipod. He wakes up Nik to have him look for another charger to yet another electronic device that a 24-year-old just can’t do without, what the name is I couldn’t tell you, nor do you probably care.

I run upstairs to get Kristen’s camera. I get partly dressed, try to fix my hair, and then I wait. I wait for the time I’d been dreading since he came home. The departure. Oh. Pang. Oh. I capture a picture of Nik and Ryan together. When I post the picture, Nik will be the one with no shirt on, just in case you might wonder.) They really do love each other, really. It just doesn’t show up on camera -- lol! At least not at 6 AM.

I snap a shot of Jim and Ryan just before take off and Jim takes one of Ryan and Mommy. I try to hold in the tears and am pretty sure I did for the picture but the hug did me in. The tears fell and I couldn’t keep them stuffed in front of him any longer.

He gave a little, “Oh,” and hugged me again and then slipped into the driver’s seat and left me. Oh. The tears flowed heavily as I ran into the house.

Now is where the Master’s Touch comes in. I just pick up my cell phone, looking at it longingly, wanting to call my friend, Mari, who shares in all my sorrows and joys, but it was 4 AM her time. There was no way I would do that. And then IT happened. The phone rang in my hand. Guess who it was!

As soon as I heard her voice, the tears started flowing again and I was lost. She listened and comforted and prayed. As the mourning ebbed for a bit, she told me a miraculous story. She was awake because she had to go to the bathroom. Her cell phone was used for a nightlight as she made her sleepy way there and then she did the unthinkable – she dropped it into the toilet.

She tells me this as I sniffle and blow and tells it so very funny that I can’t help but laugh. She dives in, well, her hand is plunged, ummm… she grabs it and starts to take it apart to let it dry as she walks into the bedroom. Her husband is mad at first but then begins to see the humor in the situation as she lovingly cradles the phone in her hand while whispering, “My baby.”

So, she is telling me all this from her husband’s phone, whispered, at 4 AM Washington time but I haven’t explained to you how the Master showed His hand yet.

#1 – Mari woke up to go to the bathroom

#2 – Mari dropped her phone in the toilet

#3 – she called me at “ugly o’clock” as she calls it

#4 – she remembered Ryan was leaving but didn’t realize that he had just left

#5 – and she didn’t know just how upset I would be

Because of these circumstances, I was touched by God in a most personal, miraculous way. She whispered in my ear, through my sobs, “Laury, God loves you. Look what He did to wake me up. He knew you needed me. He loves you, Laury.”

This morning I ran the gamut of emotions and I wasn’t alone. God put a friend in my path to help catch the tears and listen to the sobs and make me laugh.

But now, Jim needs prayer. He drove Ryan to the airport. He’ll be driving home by himself. Usually his mom is with him for the trip. This will be a painful experience for him, both in dropping Ryan off and in thinking about his mom. I know God will touch him like He touched me. That’s what I’m praying anyway. I’m praying for Jim and Ryan to feel The Master’s touch, too. And as Ryan prepares for surgery, I pray that all of our hearts will be at peace.

God certainly has a sense of humor and a most creative, Masterful touch.