It's only a car. It's only a roof. It's only...

"Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing." James 1:2-4

Sometimes bad things happen, one right after the other.

The Warda bridge has been closed for a while. And in my morning commute to work on April 25, I had forgotten about it. So I decided to take a backroad. It was raining. The road was slick and unfamiliar. I wasn't driving fast, but when I saw the sharp curve, I stepped on the break and skidded head on into another car. No one was hurt. Shout out to Phillip Adamcik and State Farm Insurance for helping us file a claim. Thank you, Jesus.

On April 28 we went to a track and field day to watch our oldest grandson compete. The weather was threatening. But it held off throughout the day and we were able to get home in the rental car before the bad weather hit. The winds were strong and our roof started leaking into the living room. My grandsons Max and John found joy in catching water as it dripped from the ceiling. I stopped them because that water is probably not the best. We have insurance, and all of the damage will be fixed. Another shout out to Bridget and Phillip at State Farm in La Grange for all of their help. Thank you, Jesus.

The drought was very hard on our farm this year. We are so thankful for the rain. The pastures are now beautiful with tall green grass. But our garden is suffering from being too wet. Our vegetables are struggling to produce a harvest because it is so wet. We were able to dig our potatoes on Friday, May 12. We are so very thankful to God for keeping our grandson safe. Tim discovered a coiled up copperhead right next to the potato plant where Max was digging. We got that copperhead and all of our potatoes are now on the rack where they should be. Thank you, Jesus.

On Sunday, May 14, Tim and I were doing our bookwork together. I entered information into the computer as Tim would call out what needed to be done. Tim said "I can't see." His vision became blurry and he could not get it to clear up. What a scary situation. Anyone who knows Tim, knows that he suffered a childhood injury leaving him blind in his left eye. This sudden onset of blurry vision in his good eye made us both realize how fragile our futures really are. Without eyesight, and without Tim, our farming days would be over. After an hour or so, his vision started to return. We went to the eye doctor the next morning, and they could not see anything wrong with his retina, macula and there was no sign of glaucoma. We don't know why this happened, but it is better. Thank you, Jesus.

On Wednesday, May 17 our air conditioner went out. It turned out to be a capacitor. On the bright side, the part was in stock, and it was fixed the next day. Thank you, Jesus.

On Saturday, May 20, Tim discovered that the wires on his tractor were chewed up by mice. He tried to fix it himself, but realized it was worse than he thought. Another repair bill will soon be in our mailbox.

Sometimes bad things happen, one right after the other. It's easy to feel down But instead we should choose joy. It is a choice. It's only a car. It's only a roof. It's only a part. All of these things can be repaired. And all of these things are just practice for the spiritual trials in our lives. Thanks to God for being with us all of these years.

This Sunday, Tim will celebrate the 50th anniversary of his confirmation at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Serbin. His confirmation class will be singing in church! God willing, all of our children and grandchildren will be there. As we get older, these things matter more to us than anything. We are looking forward to worshiping together and being together on this day and count it all joy.

We pray for good vision to see that all of the trials we face in this life are only temporary. God is good. He is in control. What a joy it is to know that one day, we will be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.