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Missing Piece


Yesterday was a tough day.

It started out fine enough.  I had planned to work a little from home but also spend time with my family. It is Spring Break after all!

The boys were completing a puzzle we had started the night before.  It was a picture of Mickey Mouse with a sorcerer’s hat.  My middle son, Aidan, ran downstairs to get his favorite puzzle, one with fish and a shark and some colorful coral.  He’s always been obsessed with sea life, ever since we took him to Sea World when he was 3.

Then the dog puked.  First outside, which was considerate of her.  Then later, she puked in the house.  The smelly bile was outside thankfully; she vomited food inside.  Food is harder to clean than the bile, but it doesn’t smell as bad.  She's not sick.  It’s just a Shih Tzu thing.  And a puppy thing.

Aidan’s favorite puzzle was missing a piece.  He took it well.  We decided it was possible it was in another puzzle box.  We’re determined to keep our eyes open for it.  The Mickey puzzle had all the pieces, but one piece was half wet and half missing.  We had rescued it from the puppy.  And that explains why she puked.

The puzzles on my kitchen table have me thinking of my older sister, Laura.  She lives in a group home in Wisconsin.  She has Prader Willi Syndrome, a rare disorder that inhibits development, both mental and physical.  She is the sweetest person you will ever meet.  So kind.  So thoughtful.  And she loves puzzles.  She absolutely loves them.  People with Prader Willi don’t mind tedious and repetitive things.  She can work on a puzzle for hours.  She and her fellow residents in the group home have jobs where they inspect parts.  The same thing over and over and over.  Look at the part.  Make sure it is right.  Repeat.

I am praying for her and her friends.  They hate isolation.

We had some tense moments as a family disagreeing about the schedule and the chores and the things we would have to do for structure today despite the fact that it was Spring Break.  We worked through that OK.

And then the rest of my day was consumed by coronavirus.  Texts.  Emails.  Video conference meetings.  Decisions.  Tough decisions.  Draft communications.  Updating the ministry team.  Updating the Elders.  Updating the congregation.

Nicole had some moments of great concern over family and friends.  I was overcome with emotion after sending the note about temporarily suspending all church activities that involve meeting people in person.  It was a tough day.

We haven’t found the missing puzzle piece yet.  But we have not lost our peace.  (Ahh…forgive the obvious wordplay.  You saw it coming, I’m sure).

Our peace is Jesus.  He is forever; this isolation is temporary.  Though you may be filled with fear and dread, Jesus is able to break through and comfort you.  And even though our world is filled with fear, sickness, and even death (and it always has since the Fall into sin, and it always will until Jesus comes again), Jesus is able to remain with His people, actually present with you as He has promised.  Open your Bible.  Say a prayer.  Jesus is there.  You don’t have to worry about getting a virus from Him.

Instead, He gives you contagious peace: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid” (Jn 14:27).

My family made it through the day OK.  The boys played games together.  The puppy drew me out of sad reflection more than once by nudging my leg with her nose and then nipping at my toes, her special way of saying “time to play!”  We read aloud chapter two of “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.”  My wife and I toasted with a good beer at dinner.  We took turns praying for people at the dinner table.  My boys are good at prayers.  My 8-year-old, Bennett, prayed for the people of Our Redeemer, that they would get medical care if they needed it.  He was referring to the poor people we served food to a few Sundays ago at a church in downtown Kansas City.

Compassion.  For neighbors.  That’s what’s going to see us through: The peace of Jesus overcoming fear for ourselves so we can have compassion on our neighbors.

Be safe.  Be smart.  But be compassionate.  God be with you all.  Until next time.

truth + love 

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