What Day Is It?

A week ago, a friend died in Vancouver. It was a heart attack, and though great efforts were made to revive him, he did not recover. We received the phone call at 11:15pm telling of his death. We went to the family and stayed with them till 2:30am. It would turn out that he would not be returned to Salmon Arm till Tuesday.

Since then Jannie and I have been with the family every day. There was cooking, cleaning, sitting, and visiting to do. Jannie put in the big hours yesterday. The wake would begin at 4:00pm, but we started, as usual at 9:00am, helping with cooking breakfast for the family and visitors. I had a mild food allergy issue at supper time, so I went home by 8:00pm. I went to bed, expecting Jannie to come home soon. I woke up at 1:30am, and Jannie was just coming home. Ministry happens, and God supplied the grace and strength to stay a 16 hour day.

We began fixing breakfast for the family and visitors at 8:00am. It is the tradition for First Nations People to have a fire outside the house 24/7, from the day of the death to the end of the funeral meal. The fire watchers would be hungry and eager for some warm food. Considering it rained last night, and was barely above freezing, covering the night fire watch is a hardship duty to be sure. We slipped away to the funeral home an hour before the funeral, so we could tune the guitars and practice the three songs we would sing during the service.

After the service, I found my car blocked in by a mini-van. The driver was a woman, and the passenger in the front seat was a well known elder to all. I had planned to slip out of the parking lot and go to church to pick up a casserole dish for the funeral feast after the service. I wasn't going anywhere. The driver was oblivious that she had parked blocking traffic flow in the parking lot, and that she was blocking in my car, even though she could see me by the car looking passively in her direction. Oblivious is oblivious. Maybe oblivious is bliss,...I don't know. She probably will never get ulcers from worry. Anyway, I figured that God was smiling at me and watching to see how I would handle the situation. As I figured there was time to wait, I spent the time chatting to people milling about outside.

Ms. Oblivious wasn't about to wake up to anything about her, so after 30 minutes, we kindly asked her if she would like our parking place, since we needed to go get some food for the meal after the service. She agreed, and we finally got on our way. We got the food, and arrived on time for the internment service.

I took two Tylenol and a power drink to try to shake a headache. Jannie was exhausted and had post nasal drip beginning. We spent the next five hours outside in the damp cold, for the meal and visiting, and went home about 6:00pm. Jannie took a hot shower to get warm again, and laid down to rest. I gave her Day-Quil cold meds, and took some myself.

By the time we got home, we didn't even know what day it was.

Well, that has been our week. Opportunities to serve and witness for Christ are too numerous to mention. Somehow, through it all, we trust that the love of The Father, the grace of the Lord Jesus, and the communion of the Holy Spirit touched lives. Now, for a rest...I hope.