Sunday, July 20, 2014

WHEN THE STORMS COME! 7/20/14

STORMS COME in different forms. They can be rain, wind, snow, hurricanes, tornadoes and even a tsunami. They can also be events that cause major distress, such as a death of a loved one or loss of a job. Circumstances beyond our control can not only cause mental, emotional, but physical discomfort. All family’s experience storms of different kinds, but the one I want to talk about is unusual to say the least.

IN 82, DANNY left for Boise Bible College. In September of 83, Jennifer left for the same college. My brother Lonnie at that time, had begun an extensive renovation of his home to accommodate my mother who was in the difficult stages of Alzheimer. She was coming to spend the holidays with us, and Jennifer was coming home for Thanksgiving. One Sunday evening we pulled into the driveway! Living in the country, it was not unusual to see skunks but this time the skunk was tripping along side our house and disappeared into a 1' square opening just under the south end of our home. We both saw it, and immediately Jim said; "I think we have trouble"! Actually that was not the half of it! With the Thanksgiving holiday just ahead, we prayed that our visitor was just passing through and had no plans to stay. The following Tuesday we left for Idaho to pick up Jennifer from school and my mother who had been staying with my sister Jeri, during the first phase of my brothers renovations.

WHEN WE arrived back home we saw no evidence of our visitor from a few days earlier. A couple of nights after Thanksgiving we went to bed as usual. This night was to be the last night we did anything as usual. No more peace and sugar plums dancing in our heads, for a very long time. Around 2 or 3 am we were awakened with a strange pawing sound in the heating vents under our manufactured home. Immediately, our hearts began pounding in our chests. Jim got up and dressed! I headed towards the bathroom! A nightmare of a storm began and lasted until after spring break; March of 84! We not only battled the difficulties of caring for my mother but standing as sentinels with gun in hand, briquet fires to smoke the enemy out, and many, many sleepless nights.

EVENTUALLY, we had to take my Mother back to my sisters, so we could concentrate on our skunk battle strategy. Poisons to feed them, along with gun in hand, Jim led the final charge and ended the life of the last invader. The final battle of "Skunk Ridge in Sam’s Valley," took place under the north end of our home while being outnumbered 14 to 1! And then, all was quiet on the battlefront. During our time of trouble Jim would not talk! His mind and his strength was on the adversary and not on me. You could say it was our winter of discontent, and I understood! Our home had literally been turned upside down! We had spent so many nights responding to the sounds of scratching. Getting dressed and heading to the bathroom was routine! Watching my mother wandering throughout the house and listening for the enemy, consumed us! The siege of the skunks was almost more than we could bear, especially wearing the noticeable skunk cologne during all those months. We could hardly stand one another! When we found a hospital cleansing product to scour our home with, we were able to clean the house a total of 7 times, from top to bottom, after each skunk bombing. But nothing worked on us!

"I WOULD hasten to my place of refuge. From the stormy wind and tempest." Psalm 55:8 God was my refuge! "The Lord is my light and my salvation Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the defense of my life. Whom shall I dread?" Psalms 27:1-3 Jim trusted in God and was strong! He did what he could! This passage talks about evildoers and adversaries causing us to stumble and fall. The hosts will come upon you and in spite of war all around, you shall have confidence. Yes, we battled a storm which left it scars, but with Christ as our captain, we won the prize for endurance. Praise God!
By Jane Ann Crenshaw (2/2/08) 7-19-14

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