Royal Encounters

3/25/09 Day in the life of a “one-anothered” woman………..
Breakfast in bed is a delightful way to begin the day. Larry serves me each morning with his little inventive “pasteboard” box with a little edge to keep the “colorful” syringe choices of the day from rolling off. It’s not exactly the inlaid variety of a Babcock’s bed tray that he serves me on, but it gets the job done. Larry lays the linen---no doilies available---using a paper towel with the colorful music staff & that’s a nice touch. He tries to fill syringes ahead of time to expedite the time. There’s always one syringe for tea, one for juice and one for the “mush” of the day---usually cream of wheat with a side of applesauce. Now if I could just think of a way to getMary Flo’s coconut cake into a syringe---hm-m-m a cuppa and a piece of cake, that’s my kind of breakfast-----'cause believe me, that lady is some kind of baker!

This morning after breakfast, Larry and I strolled down to Snider Plaza and had an encounter w/ US “royalty.” Our first indication was the Secret Service guy, with his swivel neck & that “CIA look” standing by the cattycornered SUV (w/inside blinking lights) guarding/blocking the silver Suburban at the Snider/Rosedale corner. Laura Bush was also at Snider’s Plaza---you have to love her, she’s a librarian. Larry and I were the only folks out and she waved to us as she was escorted to her car. I used “signing” to signal that I pray for her (‘cause I did every Sat. the Bushes were in office) and she waved again from the window. I actually had my camera out so I snapped and you can just barely see her hand in the back window. It might be as fuzzy as a UFO photo but I know I had my encounter. (9:58 am CST)

Lunched later at little restaurant whose name beckoned me. “Food from Galilee” is just a stone’s throw from the Ridley’s home. Mary Flo said it had been there since her SMU days so we decided to check it out. Great choice because they had a Verminelli soup. (their spelling, not mine) It had finely chopped parsley, tomatoes and broth and small bits of vermicelli noodles—which went right up my straw b/c the cook added extra broth to help me out. Maybe the piped in music added to the ambience as well---think belly dance MUZAK!

The choice was even better because the setting in this almost sparse, unassuming place of wooden square tables for two with light wood chairs, was thought provoking. Faded botanical photos of almond blossoms as well as irises that grow only in the mossy area around Tiberius hung alongside large poster prints of Jerusalem and the Sea of Galilee.

Perusing the menu of Middle Eastern cuisine choices, I saw the “mensa” or hors d’ oeuvres of kubbi, sambosa---lots of stuff with bulgur wheat, lamb, tahini sauce and grape leaves---and wondered if Jesus dined on such fare as he ministered in the area of Galilee/Jerusalem, the center/cradle of both Judaism and Christianity. Maybe He dined on the small fish from the Sea of Galilee, which have provided sustenance for its fishermen for many years---just like the ones in the miracle of the loaves and the fishes.

The Sea of Galilee---Israel’s largest freshwater lake (Sea of Gennesirit or YamKinneret in the Hebrew) is also noted for sudden squalls or storms and that’s when I got out my journal.
MAC was a sudden storm in my life that came quickly and felt very threatening. The story of Simon (Peter), his brother Andrew and James and John from Matthew 8:23-27 was similar. They were out on the Sea of Galilee with the Lord and He was peacefully asleep when a squall seemed to quickly arise with great fury. “A great (shaking) storm shook the disciples” so that it caused them to call out to the Lord---“we are perishing.” Obviously they had forgotten who was in the boat with them. Jesus rebuked both them and the wind. “Why so timid you men of little faith?” The wind and waves became calm. I wonder how the disciples must have felt at their own “lack of faith?” Before questioning their actions remember unbelief can slip forth in an instant, in all our lives. “I believe. God help thou my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24)

I needed to always remember the royalty whom I encountered at age 13—the One who was and still is in the “boat” with me. I, too, thought of "perishing" from the MAC surgery that was ahead. I don’t think I ever forgot who was in the boat with me---I just saw death as a possibility. But it was so important to remember, “I know the One” who can rebuke the wind of any of life’s storms if He so chooses. The winds and the waves obey Him---pretty profound, eh?