S. #19 Accidents and Awesomeness

Cleaned house and washed windows for a few hours before meeting a long time friend who has been our property manager for 13 years. We have ministered to him through the dissolution of his marriage and sought to be an influence for Christ. It was good to be with him, share our love and God's with him, and on top of that it was a good business meeting as well.

Went down to town in the valley...I had to slam on my brakes for a guy making a sudden left turn, behind us was a 22 year old driver following too close, going too fast and BAM!! He smashed into us. I jumped out and the entire front of his car was smashed in but he was ok. We were ok....I had a bit of whiplash but nothing major...His car had at least$2500 of damage...ours had damage to the paint and a displaced bumper...he hit our trailer hitch and that spared us a lot of damage.

We couldn't believe it!! Is the devil trying to ruin our sabbatical or what? Deb and I just shook our heads. We thanked God no one was hurt and that we had no more damage than we did.

We went to the boat and just relaxed and read and swam and I waterskiied. Our friends and partners in our boat, Dwight and Shelley, our long time Seattle friends and pastor of children Bonnie and David Carpenter, and my sister Brenda all flew in for the weekend.

We took a long mountain hike as the full moon was rising...the AWESOMENESS of God was present...and stayed up til midnight laughing, sharing old stories, and praying together. It was a rich time. During prayer they specifically asked that God would shield the rest of our sabbatical from Satan's destructive attacks.

Deb and I had decided to laugh in the devil's face....not out of disrespect for his power...but out of the certainty of our victory in Christ! The devil can't steal the joy and goodness of God in our lives. Sabbatical is not an escape from the reality of spiritual warfare but a space where we can reflect on our victory in Christ!