Sleep-in Panic

How much trouble can sleeping-in cause? When you're sick, your body needs extra sleep, right? No big deal... Unless you're house sitting and no one can get ahold of you and your friend panics.

The shrill bark of the dog woke me up. I rolled over and turned my phone back on. I had turned it off to save battery since I had forgotten to bring my phone charger. I stared at the screen in shock. It said 9:02am. It couldn't be, I had to meet someone at 8:00, and the house help needed to be let in. It couldn't be that late. My phone must be wrong.

Then Gracie called. I could hear the panic and relief in her voice. Panic because she hadn't been able to get a hold of me. Relief because I had finally answered my phone.

"I need to call everyone back and tell them you're okay," she said. I sat on the edge of the bed, groggy, the phrase bouncing around in my mind. Call everyone back?

Apparently, the house help had been knocking at the gate and trying to call my phone for over half an hour before he called her, worried. She couldn't get ahold of me either and called my team leader. Then she told the house help to go down the road and get the spare keys from another family. She wanted him to find out if I was okay.

Gracie started thinking about every possible scenario for why she couldn't get ahold of me. She knew certain facts: I had been sick for days (hence no blog post last week). The guard had taken the night off. I usually wake up early and my phone is never off. I managed to explain what had happened. Reassured, she hung up.

I dragged myself out of bed, unlocked the doors, greeted the dogs, and opened the gate for the house help. I rescheduled my 8:00 appointment for another day. Only later did it hit me what a great friend Gracie is.

That night, in Bible study, Proverbs 17:17 came up, "A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity." I told everyone about Gracie's care and concern for me that morning and my gratitude for her friendship. I've also learned a valuable lesson: never turn my phone off without letting someone know first. 😅

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Coffee Shop Atheist

Image
My ears perked up. The three men at the table across from me in the coffee shop had started talking about the Bible. My intentions of working on my historical fiction novel got pushed aside as I started eavesdropping on their conversation. Who were they? What were they saying about the Bible? The smartly dressed, white-haired gentleman facing me pulled up Romans 8 on his phone and read part of it to the young man sitting with his back to me. Intriguing. I love Romans 8. Was it a pastor mentoring a young man in his church?  Then came the revelation. The two older men facing me identified themselves as Jehovah's Witnesses. I should have known. But what about the young man with his back to me? Who was he? I could hear the older men quite well, they had louder voices directed towards me. But the young man had a softer voice and was facing away from me. I couldn't hear him very well. Concern for the young man grew in my heart. I know who Jehovah's Witnesses are. I know what they
Read more

5-Day Club

Image
The big week had finally arrived! I smiled in excitement as I thought about the 5-Day Club about to happen at the Welcome House. Several refugee families had been invited of mixed beliefs and backgrounds. I was also nervous. How would it go? Would anyone get offended? Angry? Keep their kids from coming? Or stop the 5-Day Club from happening? (A 5-Day Club is a ministry of CEF, a type of backyard Bible club with stories, songs, games, and memory verses) Day 1 As the CEF teachers walked toward the tree, one talkative little boy following in my shadow went on the defensive. He said his family doesn't believe in Jesus and asked something about God having a dad. I went on alert as I listened to him. This is exactly what I was nervous about. I wanted to navigate these conversations with respect for others but in a way that the Truth could still be proclaimed. "I know you don't believe in Jesus," I said as we walked into the shade of the tree. He seemed happy that I knew thi
Read more

God's Backward Oreo

Image
"I feel like God made you an Oreo, only a backwards Oreo." I knit my eyebrow trying to follow my mom's line of thinking as I listened to her voice note. "He's got cream on two sides and the hard cookie in the middle," she continued, "As in, you're standing in the blueberry patch on Saturday just talking with Dad and suddenly this lady goes, 'Hey, I want to get your newsletter.' I mean, wow, cream, sweet cream. And then... a hard cookie." I laughed a bit sardonically as I realized where she was going, "There's a lot more layers to the 'Oreo' than that this week!" I replied. I was having a weird week and wasn't sure how to feel about it. Yes, God had given me several moments of sweet, delicious cream, but those moments of cream had been broken up by more than one hard thing. On Thursday, listening to my mom's message, I couldn't decide if the cream outweighed the hard or if the hard outweighed the cream
Read more