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Sometimes it's a coincidence.... Today it was God!

I'm not exactly surprised that I am feeling serious pressure about the beginning of school. I'll show you a teacher who doesn't suffer from extreme urgency before school starts and I'll show you a teacher who is either too new to know better or one who is lazy.

So there I was trying to squeeze a few more minutes of work out of my day before rushing off to choir. I am really enjoying choir right now and I know that once school starts sometimes my voice isn't always singable so I like to go to choir when I can sing - like now.

Anyway - I got busy so I didn't notice how short on time I was. I live close, but not THAT close, so when I was ready to leave, I needed to fly. I knew I needed to run and grab a quick bite to eat.....So, when I left my classroom I still had time to grab some cash from an ATM and make it to church on time to eat the "late plate" for dinner. :)

I ran out back gate - made sure it was secure and promptly realized 2 things - I had parked in front of the front gate today because we'd been in the library all day AND my school keys were in my laundry basket with yesterdays clothes! - So I hiked the LONG way around to the front which is not all that far, unless you've got places to be! Plus it's the hottest day of the year, so I didn't want to sweat more than the heat dictated because I was in a hurry since I have to stand with people on Wednesday nights.

I finally got to my car, cranked up the AC and realized that I should have refilled my gas tank yesterday - I could've made it home as I live very close, but I wasn't going to go on to church and have to fill up with gas in the dark...... so I got gasoline. My momma would be proud!

I pulled into the nearest and most expensive ATM because by now I'm totally rushing - tried to get cash and it wouldn't let me..... I had just checked my account before leaving school so I know I'm in the black - but I am planning on calling my credit union tomorrow because I tried the next one down the street and that one didn't work either.

So I quickly reassessed my food options and decided that instead of enjoying the good church food I was hungry for, the quickest place with the fastest service was going to rule the day.

They must have been training someone. I could have gone to the store, bought the ingredients and cooked them up myself in the time it took them to fill my order......Yes - that is an exaggeration, but the point is that they were REALLY SSSSSLLLLLOOOOWWWW!

Literally, it was at about this time that I grinned to myself as I wondered at all of the seeming chaos and randomness of the last hour. I literally prayed, "God, are you trying to keep me busy or off the street or something? "

I tried to make up for the slow service time by eating at "teacher lunch" speed, I got in my car and drove to church. Except, by the time I got there I was already late and I had a feeling that I just needed to go on home.... I justified my decision by telling myself that I would finish some of the school work that I've had to leave undone, but that I'm told we should be able to do anywhere that has internet access.

I get home, check the mail, talked to the old gentleman who was standing at the mailboxes, trudged up the stairs, logged onto my school website only to discover that the staff page is down for maintenance. Just as I was about to turn around and go back to choir my land line rang. My land line rings only when it's a salesman or my mom if I don't answer my cell phone......

I sat there for a second thinking to myself that I shouldn't answer it because I want to be kind to salesmen and I wasn't feeling particularly kind, but then I don't have an answering machine, so I knew I would get tired of the ringing.

When I answered the phone, it was the wife of my mom's cousin Kit who is gravely ill in Austin. He is so ill in fact that she was calling me to see if I was willing to sing at the memorial service that they expect to be very soon. We talked about what to sing and we talked about how I have school starting on Monday so that when the time comes, we'd have to take that into consideration. We talked about what a great guy Kit is. He is really awesome and is one of my favorite family members of whom I have very fond memories.

Because those phone calls are difficult ones for people to make there is no telling when or if she would have been able to get in touch with me otherwise. I know I was supposed to talk to Jan at 7:30ish on a Wednesday night that I wasn't expecting to be home. I'm so glad I was home, I would have been very sorry to have missed such an important phone call.

Please prayer for Kit and Jan. Kit is heavily sedated and they are going to take him off of everything tomorrow and let him be. We don't really know how much longer it will be, but it can't be long.