When you’re caring for all that land, it is very helpful to have an old beat-up truck to drive the property. My dad had a big yellow flatbed truck. One day he loaded up my three sisters and I in the cab of the truck. This meant that my younger sister and I would sit on the laps of our two older sisters. We needed to make sure my dad had enough room to move the stick shift that was on the floor. As we all piled in the truck, with both doors open, an unexpected visitor entered the cab of the truck. A giant bumble bee flew into the truck, found that it couldn’t find its way out, and began buzzing around looking for someone to sting. I am very allergic to bees, wasps, and hornets, and I panicked. I grabbed the door frame and tried to jump out of the truck. At the same time, my oldest sister slammed the truck door as fast as she could. My hand was stuck in the passenger side door. My dad slammed the driver’s side door behind the bumble bee as it buzzed off. As my fingers dangled outside the door, inside my sister tried to open the door. Unfortunately, the door handle on the old truck had broken long before that day; we would have to roll down the window to reach the handle on the outside to open the door. As I sat on my sister’s lap, I was blocking the crank for the window, and there was no way she could open the door. After hearing my scream, my dad jumped out of the truck and ran around the truck to release my hand from the door. My dad’s plans changed that day as he had all of us pile out of the old truck, he went into the house coming out with an ice bag, and then drove me to the doctor’s office to cast my broken hand. My dad made us all laugh at the calamity that was caused by a tiny bumble bee.
We had a plan to spend the afternoon with my dad, checking Old Man Stevenson’s property. Yes, it was a ‘chore’, but is was time we were all spending together… until a tiny little bumble bee changed our plans. All four of us girls were looking forward spending the afternoon hanging out together helping our dad. Instead we spent the afternoon at the doctor’s office making fun of my black and blue hand that didn’t look quite right. My dad had a choice that day. He could have sent us all to the doctor with my mom, and got his work done on his own, but he decided to stay with his kids, and spend the afternoon with all of us like he had promised. During this ordeal, this strange thing that happened, my dad chose to be a father, and a man of his word.
“Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.” 1 Peter 4:12