In "Other" Words

"Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another, "What! You too? I thought I was the only one!"
~ C.S. Lewis ~

I am a scaredy-cat. No, really, I am. I’ve been an avid-watcher of various crime dramas and law enforcement shows for most of my life and worked as a 911 dispatcher for nearly two years so let’s just say that I have plenty of ammunition to fuel my fears. Now that I am a mommy my fears revolve less around being overpowered by a “bad guy” and more around not being able to protect my baby from a “bad guy”. I know what you are thinking because my dad asks me the same question all the time, “Just what are all these bad guys doing around my house and what do they want?” Don’t get me started. I know all the recommended deterrents; I keep all kinds of lights on outside my house, I have deadbolts, a dog, an alarm, a hard-wired phone and a back up cell phone but I am still too scared to sleep at home by myself on the nights when my husband is at the fire department so I take my scaredy-cat behind and my baby boy and we spend the night with my parents EVERY THIRD NIGHT. We have been in this three day pattern since the day my husband began working at the fire station and for the most part it works very well. This weekend was a little different though because my parents left town to go visit my sister and weren’t going to be home until late Sunday night. I debated whether or not to go to their house (since they would be getting in later that night) or just stay home because an empty house is an empty house and finally decided to stay at home so I could get some housework done. Everything went perfectly until it was time to go to bed and I realized that I would have to check all of the doors on my own (as if I hadn’t already done that 20 times). By the time I made it back to the bedroom I was so freaked out that I grabbed my sleeping son out of his crib, put him in my bed and then locked the bedroom door and moved the dresser in front of it. Whew. I got ready for bed and snuggled down in the covers next to my sweet baby boy when I realized the air conditioner was still running and the thermostat was on the other side of my “security door”. Annoyed, I moved the dresser and turned the lock but nothing happened. I tried again and again and then realized that the lock on the door knob was not working and I was unable to open the door. I became frantic and began twisting and turning and hitting the door, frantic to get out. What if there is a fire? What if I we can’t get out the window? What am I going to do? I became more and more frantic before I realized just how ridiculous I was being, took a deep breath, and turned the lock and the lock disengaged.

Most people don’t have any clue that I am this way because I keep my paranoia to myself knowing that my fears are both unfounded and a little bit ridiculous. Last year, shortly after my husband and I joined a brand new small group at church, the group was spending an evening talking and getting to know each other when one of the women in the groups shared a story that caught my attention because it was filled with the same unfounded paranoia and imaginative fears that I deal with on a regular basis. I couldn’t believe it…there was someone else who was as nutty and paranoid as me. We began talking and sharing so many “scary” stories and the next thing we knew we had scheduled time to hang out together later on that week.

It is always so much fun to meet new people that share things in common with you, especially when the similarities are obscure but people and life situations change and relationships come and go. How much more wonderful to discover friendships that are based on something more permanent than hobbies or interests. One of the greatest blessings of being part of a church family is the Christian relationships that are born from common faith and beliefs. God really knew what he was doing when he formed the body of the church.

For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.
Matthew 18:20

Your thoughts?