LOST and the Dark Cloud

For some insane reason a few months ago I decided I had missed out on pop culture by never having watched the series “Lost” and committed myself to 117 episodes of watching people bleed and get punched. But I did it. I watched the last episode last night.

If you have not watched it, you won’t know what the evil cloud is, but it’s kind of like a tornado — it’s black — and it represents evil. Sometimes they called it the smoke monster.

Many times in the last six months I have felt like that cloud is swirling around our campus. The lives of beautiful children are in the balance and there is a fight for their very souls being waged here. Sometimes it’s almost palpable.

This last week in particular I feel like I am standing right in the middle of the swirl. I have felt like the smoke monster has been after me. Lots of my kids are doing very poorly right now and its been a burden. There are work situations afloat that are difficult.

But in the middle of all of this I have to remind myself that God is the one in control, not me (do you see a constant theme here in my blogs lately) and that HE is the one who can fix things….

So when I’m standing feeling that evil cloud heading my way, I do two things.

1 — I go somewhere to spend even a few minutes with one of our residents. Yesterday I visited camp to see the ones in the picture below. I had a great time visiting with the camp director, meeting his wife, and getting hugs from a couple of these little guys. (Thanks for letting me steal your picture without permission, Bambi).

Or if it’s a family crisis, I go to Facebook or my phone and look at pictures of my grandkids. (Silas turned three and had a toy story party. The fact that Andy is written on his foot makes me love his mother more than ever and makes me smile every time I look at this). Reminding myself of the people in my family who are doing well grounds me and helps me to realize what God is calling me to. (Thanks for letting me steal your pictures without permission Christy).

2. I remind myself of this song.