Miracles All Around

18 June 2013

We all headed into town this morning to work at the Miracle House.  Kory and Kaleb worked outside, and I was on the top floor, wiping down all the construction dust from the walls, ceilings, windows and floors.  It was harder work than I realized, but it sure looks better.  I started in the room where the angel appeared to the man living there, telling him to NOT leave the house when the fire comes.  The man sat, all night in that room, watching the city burn around him.  He even watched as the fire burned up the electrical lines leading to his house, but then stopped short just as it approached his house.  We was alone in that room, reading the words from Psalm 91 over and over:

Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust.” Surely he will save you from the fowler’s snare and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his feathers,
and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. You will not fear the terror of night,
nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness,
nor the plague that destroys at midday. A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you. You will only observe with your eyes and see the punishment of the wicked. If you say, “The Lord is my refuge,” and you make the Most High your dwelling, no harm will overtake you, no disaster will come near your tent. For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. You will tread on the lion and the cobra;
you will trample the great lion and the serpent. “Because he loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. He will call on me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.”

Such powerful words, and they will be written on the walls of that room in many languages.  And in that room will sit the trunk that I donated with the year 1904 on it.  I was singing songs to the Lord as I cleaned that room and I was so pleased to be able to contribute something to the work of that house.  When I come back in future years, I’m going to volunteer as a guide there.  Can’t wait.

So I cleaned all day and Kory pounded nails and sawed lumber.  Kaleb helped for a few hours then took a bus back to try and make it to his old school to see about getting permission to attend the last few days of school with his old classmates, but he missed the bus by a few minutes and just decided to ride his bike over to Daniel’s house.  No surprise there – another sunny day wasted sitting inside doing electronics.  Ugh.

I met The Good Teacher Inga for coffee today while I was in town.  We had a nice chat sitting outside in the sunshine on the sidewalk.  She knew about half the people that walked by, including her boss, who wanted to have some kind of disciplinary meeting with her today but she told him she couldn’t because she had a “very important” prearranged meeting she couldn’t miss.  That would have been me, so then she was busted right then and there and got so embarrassed by the whole thing.  I tried to encourage her that she is doing the right thing, by defending her students that get the run around in the system, but I guess she overstepped her bounds on some of the advice she gave so she’s in big trouble.  I hope it goes well for her. (Photo below is view from the house of the cruise ships in town today.)

We were late getting home tonight as we worked til 6:30.  Both Kory and I were exhausted but we ate, showered and headed over to my friend Kristin’s house to see about a little “handyman” job she needs Kory to do.  He said he’s happy to do it as soon as we have rain again and he can’t work at the Miracle House.  We then went to pick up Kaleb at Daniel’s house and stayed on quite a while for visit with Tina and Are as this is the last time we’ll be seeing Are for awhile – he’s heading out fishing this weekend.  So sad to say good-byes and two years seems like an eternity right now.  Sniff sniff.