Devotion for Thursday, September 13, 2007

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hen you go through deep waters and great trouble, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown" Isaiah 43:2 If I dream at night, I don't remember it when I wake up the next morning...most of the time. Last night was a different story. I can vividly recall three different events in my dreams. All of them were about me falling down in front of large crowds of people. In the first scene, I took two steps up the staircase leading to my office at work, and then just toppled over. I landed on my back, staring up into the faces of the entire Crossgate high school football team. The second time, I was walking my dog in downtown Hot Springs. She tugged really hard, and I fell, where she proceeded to pull me along, with me still lying on the concrete. Now, this would be realistic, if Baby were a Doberman or a Labrador. But since she's a Chihuahua and barely weighs 5 pounds soaking wet...it's a bit of a stretch. As she tugs me down the street, every pedestrian we pass is someone I know. The last one...unfortunately really happened. 21 years ago when I was a student at OBU, I was helping to set up for a luncheon where the featured speaker was former President Jimmy Carter. As the catering team, worked to get tea glasses on the table, several members of the Secret Service stood guard to make sure that no one tried to poison the rubber chicken, or put a razor blade into a roll. I started across the floor, three glasses of iced tea in my hands, stepped in a wet spot where someone had spilled water, and down I went. Before I could pick myself up, there were Secret Service agents huddled over me. They helped me up and picked broken pieces of glass out of my palms. One of them grabbed a broom to help clean up the mess, one came back with a first aid kit to fix the cut on my hand, and another brought me a coke. Today, it's a funny story that I love to tell. But at the time, it was a source of difficulty! I remember sitting in that chair as the young secret service agent tried to make me laugh. What I really wanted to do was go somewhere and cry! Whether your troubles and difficulties are just in your dreams, or you're going through them in real life, Christ says He will never leave us nor forsake us. So go ahead and fall and know that He has promised to catch you!