lost but not forsaken

...and call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will delier you, and you will honor Me.
Psalm 50:15

What a day it has been!! Ethan had a jazz choir competition @ UW Eau Claire this morning. He was sudposed to be there @ 8:30 for singing @ 9:00. We set out early for plenty of time (or so I thought) Having never been to the campus before, I scoped the area on Mapquest, wrote myself some directions. Ethan was driving his new (very rusty, but good gas mileage car with a stick) My directions were good getting us there. However, when we got to the campus with the map we had been given from Ethan's school, we were totally getting lost.

At one point (about 8:40 or so) we were so close...we had turned on a "road" which started out blacktop and ended up looking like a dirt walking trail with mudholes from the constant rain we seem to be having lately. We could see cars in a parking lot through the trees at one point, but no signs. We couldn't turn around (one-way) so continued on, hoping to see an end somewhere. We came upon a walking bridge overhead. I thought it was to the parking lot we saw on the map, so I told him to go ahead, and I would bring his car around to the parking lot (walking by faith-ya). So he took off almost forgetting his cell phone and dress shoes in his haste-so of course I yelled at him (ever had panic set in when the cellular communication is cut off for some reason??I'd like to know how parents ever got along without them)

I had seen a man walking his dog through a tunnel and I proceeded to flag him down...wondering if it was wise to flag down a strange man in a tunnel, but trusting God:) he informed me we were way beyond where I thought we were. I became anxious to get going as I knew then that Ethan was walking to nowhere or somewhere ??? The man gave me directions I thought I could remember and I raced back to the car. I was going to get the car going, but couldn't find the lever to move the seat and couldn't reach the pedals!! Then I thought "I have to call Ethan!" (Duh) So as I got out my phone, he was back at the car. He had figured out he was going nowhere.

We followed the man's directions to the best of my rememberance. We took a few wrong turns-which as you might guess kept the tension building. Meanwhile Ethan was on the phone with the teacher who was trying to help us. Finally we saw the building we needed to be in. He parked (rather, er, hastily) and asked a young man where the entrance to the building was. So-......my 6'3" son tore off across the wet grass leaving his 40 something mom to run after him in her heels (which happened to be sinking into the lawn with every other step-maybe I should charge for areation!) I was afraid if I lost him, I would miss him singing as he would not be answering his cell phone. I managed to catch up as he was asking for directions inside the building. By this time I had to go to the bathroom soooo bad. He found his people TWO MINUTES before 9:00!!! (Whew, thank you Lord!!) I followed the kids into the performing area only to find out the parents all came in a different door-ugh. Not too many noticed though (crooked smile).

They sang two fun songs, got a review and his part was all over!! We headed home and I was a bit disoriented (direction-wise, I am used to the compass in my vehicle now) as the day would have it, we ended up going the WRONG WAY on the highway that was to take us to the freeway. Turn around again...........Ethan commented on getting alot of practice driving his new, rusty, stick-shift car! (well, he didn't say rusty)

Finally we got on the freeway-homeward bound. We relaxed, listened to music and talked. The sun actually came out. We were tooling along and I completely missed our exit! I have no idea how we did that, but we ended up 15 mn past our exit before I realized it. Oh Lord help me!! We got going in the right direction again, and I happened to look down and realized I had spilled coffee down the front of my white turtleneck. I began to laugh, and cry a little, and laugh some more. Ethan asked me if I was okay, I said I was, it was really funny that all that had happened to us in the matter of a few hours. Talk about humanity in need of Deity (smile)we ended up enjoying our time toghther. My boy said, "it's okay, Mom, it is mother/son bonding time". What a sweet one I have.

Thank you Lord, that you make bitter experiences sweet. Thank you that we didn't miss Ethan's singing time. When I think over this morning, I am amazed at all the things that could have kept us from making it on time for him to sing. Then we would have made the trip for nothing. Now we have another funny story to tell to (my future grandkids) about You and Your provision. You are GOOD!