A Quiet Wood

A Quiet Wood

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Lament...Or Not

"It's that time of year..." unfortunately not when the world falls in love. It's mid-October, and striding jauntily along with an evil glint in his eye is Mr. Stress. He has successfully weaseled his way into the lives of most of my girls during this season of mid-terms, school activities, boyfriend problems (or the lack thereof), etc. In the last few days, my office has been full of the sounds of weeping and woe. Fortunately, at this point at least, I am not the one supplying this excess of lamentation. I am simply the one who is there, the one who listens, the one who comes alongside. Along with the normal, run of the mill college stress, I have also encountered some heartbreaking sagas as well; broken hearts, crushed spirits, deep sadness, true woe. In the face of this grief, it is a blessing to know that I don't have to know all the answers, fix all the problems, offer the sagest advice. I just have to be there, and together my girls and I can go to Jesus. What a privilege! What a comfort! Not quick solutions and pasted together remedies but the person of Jesus. He offers us Himself, and it is enough.

So, I'm sitting at the computer waxing eloquent about grief when my world shifts on its axis ever so slightly. THERE'S A GAS LEAK IN THE DORM! CALL THE FIRE DEPARTMENT! EVACUATE THE BUILDING! THE GAS COMPANY SAYS THE NUMBERS SAY WE'RE IN DANGER OF AN EXPLOSION! QUICK! MOVE! NO, YOU CAN'T GO BACK INTO THE DORM TO GET YOUR HOMEWORK TO DO WHILE YOU'RE WAITING! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! OK, slight overkill, but it was fun to read, wasn't it? We did have a gas leak, and the fire department did come - as evidenced by these grainy cell phone pictures. It's actually kind of cool to post grainy cell phone pictures. Those are usually the ones posted in the tabloids. You can't really tell what's happening, but you're sure it has to be bad. Anyway, here are two for the tabloids.

This is the truck from the gas company with various firemen being helpful by setting up a large fan to blow out the fumes and generally just being there in case the aforementioned explosion decided to become a reality.


Here we have the fearless firemen ACTUALLY ENTERING THE BUILDING. *shudder* Oh, wait, some of them are leaving. THAT MEANS THEY WERE IN THE BUILDING! *second appreciative shudder*



I do praise God for keeping us safe. The gas was leaking into the building for several hours, and we could have had a major catastrophe.

I guess I will skip my lamenting for now. I had a good lament planned. I was going to pronounce woes on a great many things, but now I just don't want to anymore. So...I won't.

Have a stupendous day, and if you smell natural gas CALL THE GAS COMPANY AND GET OUT OF THE BUILDING!

21 comments:

Tara said...

Oh, PRETTY PLEASE...do post that list of lamentations! That would make me feel gleeful...I'm so twisted, arent' I?!?
Glad that all is well now on the Hilltop. That truly could have been a much more serious catastrophe and could have affected many lives. So, thankful shudders are certainly in order.

Love ya!

kayla said...

I smell "natural" gas. Call 911! Oh never mind it was just one of the boys, but boy would they love the fire engines.
In regards to your comment to Julia, you better get down here and hug your Mom fast. If you wait until Christmas your childhood fears may become reality.

coffeechica said...

oh to keep a good attitude 'this time of the year'! if i'm not having a bad day, some others may, and that still requires a good attitude when being near stressed-out friends!! (extremely terrible grammar, but hey it's late... i'm going to bed right now!!)

oh yeah, i even took a nap yesterday morning between classes woke with a headache and smelling strange things.. so glad we are all still alive!

Sharlyn said...

(((Big Hugs, Girl!)))
I don't envy you getting heaping doses of girl issues from dawn til dusk! But I know God has you right there on Young Street for a reason!
Your fruit pizza made my eyes happy, too. Good job!
Have a great rest-of-the-week sans chest pain and near explosions!

kayla said...

Okay, I got paranoid. What I meant by the statement above, for anyone that didn't read the comment that I was referring to, was that Mrs. V is becoming so skinny that soon there may not be anything left to hug. She is lookin' good.

Anonymous said...

Not to worry, Kayla. I knew what you meant! It does worry me though, my mother is fading away. :)

Anonymous said...

Wow. Major run on sentence there. What am I smoking?!

Kimberly said...

Uh...smoking,tabloid photography, explosions and all in connection to GBS?? What is the world coming to?:)
I have always thought that kids seemed more stressed out at Bible College than anywhere else..wonder what that's about? I am positive that w/your very sage wisdom you are helping them learn how to handle life w/balance and hopefully making a difference in this phenomenom.
And...to continue this very long comment:)...So thankful with you that MOST of the time it's not our wise "answers" that make the difference, but striving in the Spirit to point others to Him. I've been pondering on this, and realizing more and more how this is true.
(Please do come see me and the fam.:) Love Ya!)

Making Memories 1999 said...

You're very wise!! Realizing we don't have to have the answers is a freeing attitude . . . I'm still learning that lesson!! :-) I really like what you said, "He offers us Himself, and it is enough."

So glad the gas situation wasn't any worse!! Y'all take care!!

Sarah Cook said...

Wow! It never does get boring around there, does it?

Judith Atnip said...

This is funny. The truck that you showed in the photo looks like a Pepsi truck! There is your tabloid.
Pepsi comes to save GBS from a gas explosion.

Julia said...

Well now, perhaps you missed an opportunity to make this "that time of year when the world falls in love". Did you even check to see if any of the brave firemen were single? I knew you didn't.

Also, I would avoid lighting candles in your apt. anytime soon.

Also, Just a comment on Bible College stress. I found most of my stress came from the fear of becoming a sermon illustration.

Sharlyn said...

BTW, I got the Revivalist today and was blessed by your devotional. Thanks for letting God use you in this way. It may feel like just one more glimpse into your fishbowl but it means a lot to those of us who read it. KWIM?

The Lazy Philosopher said...

LOL, T1 was texting me through the whole thing. "The dorm smells like nat. gas, do you suppose someone should be called?" and "Yay, we're evacuated!" and "How many firemen do they need anyway?"

Thanks for saving her life for me. ;o)

Unknown said...

Awww... the days of mid-semester strife and woes! Ms. V you are touching lives more than you'll ever know! I loved listening to you pray before Biology class.

Unknown said...

Im so excited I finally found your blog so I can keep updated. IT has been so long since i;ve gotten to talk to you, how have you been my friend? check out my page at www.freewebs.com/kentncarissa
Love,
Carissa (Everhart) Seward

Kimberly said...

SJV...where have you been (well, besides the gas leaks)? Missing you:)

Mary Ellen said...

Hmmmm...am I the only one wondering here if a certain single women's dean didn't cause a little gas leak so she could check out the local fireman in hopes of finding a cute one to rescue a damsal in distress!??!!? Sounds a bit suspicious to me!!! "-)

Kimberly said...

Now that, maryellenhuff, is funny!

cheriepasbjerg said...

I am laughing out loud! There might be a couple of cutie pies in there. As firemen tend to be masses of muscle and and good looks. (I observed that from working in the ER for the last 13 years!) Sonja, sounds like not much has changed, just the year. Oh young love and school stress. Wouldn't want to go through that again! UGGGG The DRAMA!

coffeechica said...

I'm not being too dramatic!! lol! great memories are being made this year!

can't wait for your next post :D