DISTANCE

Ok, so we all know how I feel about the ways in which we measure things. 
I learned today how far away Thursday can seem from Tuesday.  Not just forty-eight hours.  Not 2,880 minutes or 172,800 seconds.  (I hope my math is correct there...even a calculator can't help me some days.)
The space between today and two days from now, for at least one person I know, is the difference between everything is going to be alright or things are not as great as we thought.
The space between last Friday and a phone call that may never come seems more like eternity than something that can be ticked and tocked away.
I was trying to figure out how to help these people not stress between now and then.
Yeah, right.
Who the hell am I kidding?
If I were in either position I'd be a walking anxious zombie. 
I wonder how far something can go before it is just too great a distance to be bearable. 

I have no idea what kind of rock this is.  I've actually Googled extensively (for about twenty minutes) trying to figure it out....to no avail.  I brought it home from the beach near Punta Gorda, Florida on the Gulf of Mexico.  It has travelled a great distance, and it has a surface full of holes, but it remains in one piece.

There are things in this life that make no sense and even things that are so bewildering that only God will ever know the reason for.

I'm sure both of the people I was referring to probably feel like they are on a plane/train/boat headed to Timbuktu and they have no idea how long they will be on this trip or when they'll get back, if ever.  They probably didn't pack for such a journey, and I doubt either of them thought they'd encounter the stormy weather that they've seen this week.  You might compare it to being sent on a vacation where you make no choices at all, other than how you spend your time between Point A and Point B.

If I were either of them, I'd start out screaming, then continue on into cursing, maybe kick my car tire, and end up in tears.

I would not be able to bear it....without having someone along the journey with me.
I don't know if they would say that I've been really "there" for either of them this week.  I'm trying to help in the only ways I know, just by listening and spending time with them.  I don't honestly know what either of them needs to get through their individual ordeals.
But I do know I can make it a point to be WITH them, from "here" to "there".
I can help get them from Point A to Point B in one piece, caring for them gently like I did this stone I found on the beach, keeping them safe from the hardships of the journey.
I can remind them that God is on the plane/train/boat too.....maybe that's why they call him our Rock.
He doesn't promise you'll get there on time, or that you will even arrive at your desired destination.
But, no matter the distance, I bet He'll get you there in one piece.