Jewells of Thought

Today was a day to celebrate my baby brothers’ birthday. Obviously he’s not a baby anymore; he stands a good foot above me. We ate at our favorite Chinese restaurant for dinner. I don’t like leaving the restaurant without my fortune cookie, it’s always funny to see which cookie says what.

As we drove through Sullivan north to our destination the devastation from the tornado lingers. No matter how many times we have traveled through this area it’s still breathtaking. Two buildings noticeably missing is the VFW on Section Street and behind that building was one my family knew a long time ago. My brothers and I took gymnastics in the Club 10 building; it has been a couple decades since any of us have walked those doors. There are still faint memories I have of being bused there by mom and grandma specifically.

This tornado and its effects will continue to be seen for years to come. Even today hearing the audible gasps from inside the car from mom and myself. I remember that night my brother wouldn’t wake up to get down to the basement. We could hear and feel those gusts of wind if that tornado had changed course we might have well been in its path. My dad and my other younger brother were driving after their night shift was over possibly directly within the outskirts of the path. His daughter, my niece was with her mother also more in line with the direct path, and with no basement.

The Lord was gracious to our family, but so many others experienced excruciating loss. Today was just another reminder of the destruction and how close we came to any number of possible losses ourselves.

Then when I finished my plate I went back up to the buffet to get 6 cookies. I don’t necessarily believe in fortune cookies, but God usually has something to say when it comes to our fortunes. Mine from today said as follows.

God does want us to sing and rejoice in good fortune. We were all together with my parents, brother and his wife, and our younger brother whom we were celebrating. We were missing our niece who should have been at school and my boyfriend, but we were together and healthy. Is that not good fortune and we had some really good food to put a smile on our faces.

Last year back in early November I remember eating at this restaurant and looking at that fortune cookie. I had the next day off and was enjoying that fact, but was wondering about this fortune I had opened.

Not five minutes later I looked at my phone and I had a missed call. It was from my co-worker at the Dialysis Clinic. I don’t remember the excuse this time we both tried to help each other out usually. So I called her back, she needed someone to cover her shift the next morning. Then vice versa she would take a shift for me later. Ironically, I had never had a fortune come true in such short fashion ever.

So like I said, I believe God decided to use this to His own service. Whether or not she was actually in trouble is conjecture, but we all had a laugh about this. I reluctantly acquiesced and had to leave the restaurant quickly to get home to prepare to work for a 2nd day in a 3 day row. I always tried to be a team player and knew it would both make for a long week and would get more hours that week because of it.

Still I know that my fortune won’t come from a cookie, but it can be entertaining to read. I think God uses even these paper fortunes to His use when necessary for amusement.