Appreciating life

So many clichés pop in my mind right now. “Life is precious,” “Everyday is a gift,” “You aren’t guaranteed tomorrow.” I must remind myself that before these sayings became cliché they once had a good solid meaning behind them. I’ll just say this, today sucked. I had to go into work at 1 p.m. for inventory at LifeWay. At about three o’clock it happened. A garbage truck out front of LifeWay made a right turn and ran over a 20-year-old girl.

Immediately after we heard the initial commotion the store manager yelled, “someone call 911!” my Air Force training kicked into gear. I bolted out the front door to check the girl's vital signs. Her body was extremely contorted up under the truck. Urgency was in my mind. Is she alive? I dropped quickly to my knees…she had a pulse…she wasn’t responding to me…one of her legs is not visible…it’s under the tire. I immediately started barking orders at people. “Jeff, (a co-worker) get the driver to back up he is still on top of her. “ Jeff followed the direction and had the guy move the truck. Next, we needed to get the truck turned off. I yelled at Jeff and he took care of that as well. The girl began to come around to slight consciousness (slight movement). She wasn’t paralyzed. I began to console her. “It will be alright, please just stay still.” I looked down after the truck was moved and realized there was very little left of her lower leg. It looked as if her body stopped the motion of the truck. She was badly, badly injured.

More consciousness. “You will be okay. Look into my eyes. You will be okay, help is on the way.” “Lord, please comfort this girl. Please hold her in your hands.” Minutes passed. More consciousness. She began to move more realizing something bad had happen. She started pushing me away. I heard sirens. “Please stay still. Help is on the way," I pleaded.

“Jeff,” I barked, “grab her purse, get her ID out and ready for the paramedics.” He complied. “You are gonna be okay. Look into my eyes.”

The paramedics arrived in what seemed like a few minutes. They run up and assess the situation and I step back for the first time. I began to quake. My body shook. I staggered over to the curb and crashed. “What just happened?”

I don’t want to depress you. I don’t want to shake you and wake you up to the reality of the fragility of life (although we do need to be reminded). I want you to be thankful to God for the fact we have people who dedicate their lives to the service of us. I have a whole new respect for those who serve and see this kind of stuff all the time. My life is changed from this one incident. Think about theirs.

wes

Friends passing through

(Above is Matt Harris with Jerusalem in the Background on Nov. 28, 2007)

One of the best things about living in a big city for a while is you get to see some of your friends who are just passing through. Since most highways lead to big cities and we have two major airports in Chicago the opportunity arises to just hang out with folks you love. This happened a few months ago when our friend Val had a layover for a few hours and last weekend a buddy of mine was close by and came to visit.

Some might know him as "The World Traveler" on myspace.com but I know him as Matt Harris. We had a great time exploring the city together and just hanging out.

Matt, thanks for stopping by and it was great to see you!

Everyone, if you are stopping through Chicago please (PLEASE) let Elaine and I know. We would love to get together with you again.

Love,
Wes and Elaine

Happy Birthday Elaine

Today Elaine Auldridge is 26!

Please leave a comment and wish her Happy Birthday.

-Wes

Back from Okinawa:

My body is telling me that it is currently 5 a.m. tomorrow and I should be sleeping, despite the sunny afternoon and cool breeze. Yes, we are home. Wes and I enjoyed our second week in Okinawa with the Oshman's and the "Harbor" community! We were a little more adjusted to the culture, and were more familiar with the people around us. Two weeks seems just long enough to start forming relationships then, of course, we left.

One unique aspect of this community is that it is not composed of one specific branch of service. It is not safe to assume the person you are talking to is in the Air Force, since there are also Army personnel stationed at Kadena, as well as Camp Foster (a Navy base) about two miles away and several other Marine Corps bases locally. This adds a touch of unfamiliarity, since all of these branches operate differently as far as day-to-day operations, deployments and even language go! (Thanks Navy)

Tuesday nights I got the opportunity to be involved with the Women's Bible study, which is currently made up of primarily married women (who are mostly wives of Active Duty). These women are from all walks of life, with all sorts of spiritual backgrounds and levels of maturity. There was also a monthly Prayer Breakfast for women on a Saturday morning. I shared a little this past Saturday about how God has used scripture specifically in my prayer life. It was encouraging also to break up into small groups and pray with these women. I saw their hearts for their families, missions, the Gospel, and their own walks with Christ. They are truly a loving and fun-filled group.

Wednesday nights Mark leads a Bible Study on base at "Project 196", the cafe ministry. It is open to everyone, and provides a good opportunity for unbelievers to come and see what this "Jesus" stuff is all about. They are currently doing an in depth study on 1 Corinthians. The men also have a "Band of Brothers" Prayer breakfast at the Project every other Saturday. Wes was privileged to share with the men some of the ways God has worked in his life too.

Being there for Easter weekend was an added bonus. The usual Friday night Worship service was focused specifically on the cross. It was a contemplative night, as we thought on and prayed about the cross, Jesus atoning work and our indebtedness. Good Friday truly is good, but should be considered with sobriety. Then Sunday was a celebration of the Risen Lord!! We scheduled a barbecue picnic, fun for the kids, and several baptisms in the East China Sea. We held out through the beginning of the rain but ultimately we had rain soaked children with soggy bags of Easter eggs and a 'bug-out' back to the Harbor. Even with the chaos of changing plans it was a great afternoon of celebration with a community joined by their Savior.

We are now lovers of sushi and proficient users of chopsticks. If you are familiar with sushi you'll know about the California Roll. Well, the creator of said roll happens to be a man named Yoshi with a restaurant on Okinawa, not far away from The Harbor. Mark and Jen took us there to eat one night and it was probably our favorite night of sushi on the island!

We also took a trip further north on the island with two other couples to tour a Pineapple plantation. The northern half of the island contains most of the natural beauty of Okinawa and boy is it beautiful!! It a great time going through the plantation and the winery. We sampled Pineapple ice cream (that is the best!) wines, juices, cookies, chocolate, cakes, dried and fresh fruit, and more...

Time spent with the Oshmans was really good. It was usually laced with young young ladies who are the brightest, cheeriest, most joyful and fun little girls ever! Spending time with Jen and the girls really made me consider things I hadn't really seen yet. What is it like to have babies and raise them in "the field" as missionaries? It was a blessing to see Mark and Jen guard time with their girls, love them, discipline them, and live in the community with them.


I am sure there is more I've missed. But I'll let you chew on this for a while :) Be watching your mail box for a prayer update from us in the near future!

Please pray with us: That God would continue to be glorified through this ministry, and that we (and the Oshman's) would have wisdom in planning the next steps.

本当にありがとう

As Servants of Jesus,

Elaine and Wes