Brothers Are a Good Thing

Perhaps it's just a part of achieving the ripe old age of forty-six, but I've started reminiscing more, of late. And, when you're foolish enough to drink a diet Cherry Coke after four in the afternoon, you might find yourself reminiscing instead of sleeping.

Loren receiving a heart transplant may have put me in an introspective mood, also. It's a drastic change. This time, for the better. It was just a little over ten years ago that our lives appeared to take a sharp nose dive.

You really don't forget receiving a call out of the blue that says your husband has been found by the side of the road in cardiac arrest. It's tempting to just relive the horrific parts. They're rather superb for those times when one wishes to make peoples' jaws drop, or making someone feel guilty for just being alive.

This is not, primarily, one of those recollections.

I was alone in the Critical Care Unit waiting room. Well, now, to be perfectly accurate, I did have baby Carolyn with me. But, at less than 5 months of age, she was just a nursing babe, who could not leave her mother's side for more than an hour.

Our pastor at that time was out of town. Other people in the church were either sick or away. Two couples, however, did make the long drive to the hospital to cry and pray with me. But they had gone and I was now alone.

Sometime, in the middle of the night, Doug walked in. He had driven more than 4 hours so that a family member could be by my side until my parents arrived from even farther away. Doug was married, and left five children at home, so it was no picnic for his wife, Cindy. But he and my dad had discussed it, and felt it was important that a relative was there for me.

Maybe it's the late hour, but I'm getting teary just thinking of it, now.

It was good for him to be there. He is one of those stable, rock-like fellows that never gets angry, always trusts God, and has a humorous, gentle way with words. And, unlike me, he is truly humble, and not just a pretender. He provided that necessary encouragement to a shell-shocked sister, who suddenly found herself deposited on foreign soil. (until this point, Loren and I had taken pains to avoid the traditional medical establishment)

He remained until my folks arrived, and then returned to his familial obligations. But not before he "was there" for me.
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That was over ten years ago. This week, a woman arrived on his doorstep and bore the tidings that his position, which he had held for 20 years, had been terminated. Effective, immediately. It was decent of her to travel from another state to give him this news. And, she had no role in his job loss, or in the others that occurred at the same time.

Twenty years of computer work ought to count for something in the job market. But discontinuation of a job may mean a whole host of problems for the son in college and the son at home who is in need of special prescription drugs and care for the rest of his life.

So, I would covet your prayers for Doug and Cindy and their family. Losing one's job is a shock. Losing one's medical insurance is worse, in my estimation.

But he would be (and is) the first one to say that God will provide.

If I could do any good by driving all night to be there, I would. Dramatic as it sounds, though, it would not help in this instance.

But prayer, now, prayer can help.

Please pray if you feel led, 'cause.....

......he's my brother.

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