The Unexpected
September 28, 2021
So, I got up at 4 AM to write.
I could tell that my daughter, Eva, stirred when I got out of bed. But I didn’t think she would actually get up. Within a few minutes she was up, and I knew that my plan to write was already in jeopardy. A few minutes after that my 2-year-old, Amelia, woke up. They both came downstairs. Sigh. It was too early for them to be up, so I took them upstairs and got back into my bed with them. I slept for another hour. Now it was about 5:30 and I felt a little distracted. I couldn’t focus. My mind was wandering on all the things that I had to do for the day, conversations that I had had, things I needed to pray about that were not necessarily connected to what I was writing—it was just a lot.
Finally, I was able to gets in a groove. I put on REVERE Unscripted Worship and began to read the Scriptures. It wasn’t coming together very well but at least I was writing. Then, just as I was about to gain some traction, a transformer exploded and the power was gone.
Now I had to think about what to do with my daughter's online schooling. It was after 6 and I had planned to get her up by 6:30. She wanted a bubble bath in the morning so I planned to wake her up half an hour before her usual get-up time which is 7. I had to rearrange my whole morning and my whole day because I had no power. I called my mom and asked if I could bring the girls and if Eva could do school online at her house. She said, “Of course.” Next assignment was to get through to my housekeeper so that she wouldn't come to my house. After several tries, I asked her to go to my mom’s house instead so that she wouldn’t have to wait at the door until whenever it was that I came back.
I was tired and frustrated, but I prayed and asked the Lord to help me—to direct my steps about what to do first, second, third. I went to the kitchen and packed food for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks. I packed textbooks, notebooks and iPad. Charger. Did I have the Zoom code and password? Yes. I packed all her pencils, ruler, crayons and everything she needed for school that day. I got up the girls who I had just put back to sleep. I don’t usually wake up Amelia that early but we needed to get going, now. School started at 8. I told Eva to get up and use the toilet. I told Amelia to go sit on the potty and pee. She usually enjoys using the bathroom the same time as her sister, but this morning she wanted me to stay with her. I don’t know how I managed to get around her but I told her I couldn’t stay that morning. I packed her clothes, Eva’s clothes, that is, her school uniform, as well as a change of clothes. I packed Amelia’s bag with diapers, a change of clothes, wipes. I got their toothbrushes and toothpaste. Oh, I forgot to mention that I also did not have water for some reason. Oh, I also fell asleep and did not actually go to bed that night. So, I was still wearing the clothes I had on for the entire day, the day before. I packed my laptop and Bible because I was determined not to break my daily writing cycle that I have NEVER been able to keep in all my years of writing. It was like we were going on an unglamorous vacation.
Long story short, we got to my mom’s house and she helped me to get Eva in school by 8, clean, fed with hair combed and teeth brushed. Amelia, I can’t even recall. She was fine. Lol. Pretty much the same, except instead of school it was Netflix. I sat down at my mom’s kitchen counter to write the devotional ‘The Father’s House.’ During that time my laptop stopped working. I dug my heels in and didn’t even get myself together until I got it all out. At some point during all this, I asked my friend Andrea (who lovingly subscribes to this podcast) to pray for me. Thanks, ma fren.
Because of this podcast, writing has finally become life-giving to me. As a teenager I enjoyed writing devotionals, but abandoned it somewhere along the way. Over 20 years later, it’s what has saved a flickering dream to write a lot, and to write with joy. I can’t wait for what’s next to fight for in the unexpected troubles of a day.
-Dan