The Adventures of Sharon

My wife is an amazing person and adventure seems to follow her around like a stalker. She survived a bad car accident when she was a little girl. During our early years of marriage when I was in college she was grabbed by a man who was robbing the restaurant at which she worked and put a gun put to her head. A few months later she used a shotgun to defend herself against a man who was trying to force entry into our apartment while I was at work. She didn't have to shoot though since the sound of the slide action was all that was needed. When she goes on trips with the youth at our church it seems that something crazy generally happens. Flat tires, blowouts, you name it.

Needless to say, when Sharon travels I start to worry. Last week was no exception as Sharon went to the Casa Bernabe orphanage in Guatemala on a scouting trip to prepare for an upcoming missions trip this summer where she will lead the youth back to help paint it and do some other work. When she left I was expecting not to hear from her for a week but I was pleasantly surprised that the orphanage had internet and I received an email from her letting me know that she had arrived safely. With regular communication I felt I wouldn't have to worry so much, or so I thought…

Sharon warned me that she wouldn't be able to write every night but after three days went by without hearing from her I was pretty concerned by Thursday night of last week. I just couldn't get to sleep that night and I was awake into the wee hours of the morning. I think I even had a mini panic attack or three. The only think I could do was pray and try to give the worry to God. It was hard though. I reminded the Lord that he promised not to give us more than we could bear (that's a correct interpretation, right?) and I assured him that if anything happened to Sharon it would simply be too much for me. I realized how silly this sounded as soon as I said it and in my chagrin I told God that I was sorry. The worry was still there though and I began to role-play what life without Sharon would be like. It's a great recipe for sleeplessness. You should try it next time you want to lie awake all night.

It is said that absence makes the heart grow fonder but I won't admit there is any truth to it because something inside of me says that if I deny it then I'll have more power to prevent absences unless absolutely necessary. It's a rather convoluted logic but I'm sure that you feel the same way. The most I will admit is that the absence of someone I love deeply does help me see more clearly how much I take them for granted and how much I depend on them. It's an over-used quote from a movie I didn't even like but… "Sharon completes me."

On Friday morning I received a call from my wifey. She informed me that she was okay but that something had happened. My emotions went from joy to dread in a moment. The way she said it even gave me a little adrenaline jolt. I could hear my own pulse as she told a story about how she and her friend Kim had been trapped in a marked during a civil uprising in Guatemala City. The connection was bad and she was in a hurry since the call was expensive and on someone else's dime so I didn't get all the details right at the time. I understood her to say that they had been held inside a mall like area but she later clarified that it was actually an outdoor market. Anyway, there were lots of locals running around with sticks, pipes, and whatever else they could get their hands on that would make them look threatening. At the perimeter of the market, police lined up behind barricades, equipped with guns and riot gear, presumably to keep things contained. I got to see some pictures from the paper that Sharon brought back. Needless to say, they were a bit frightened at first and only received a little information about what was going on from their guides who didn't speak English well. They ended up staying there for 14 hours hoping things would settle down so they could buy food for the orphanage which was nearly out. Things finally did settle down and the market reopened so they purchased what they needed and headed back.

In hindsight it seems that maybe Sharon wasn't in any real danger but it was close enough that it made me think about how much she means to me. I began to consider some of the selfish and childish things I had done in the weeks prior that expressed love for myself rather than my love for her. I suppose this little adventure provided me some much needed clarity about what really matters.

Thank you Lord for the opportunity to see more clearly.

I love you Sharon and each day with you is a gift.