This Happened: Pink Roses

After hurricane Katrina, the associate pastor in our church located a church on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain that needed some help organizing themselves for the influx of volunteers that were pouring in from all over the country. I jumped aboard the van heading down, but not without some trepidation. If I were a single woman without three boys 3, 8 and 12 I'd have felt differently, but as it was I was a little fearful of going off and leaving them. To tell the honest truth, long car rides make me squirrelly. I was afraid of dying in a car accident on the trip.

The trip down was fairly easy. We were all excited, chatting incessantly, and running on adrenaline and snacks. The trip back was a bit different. We were exhausted from working all day, every day. We had a lot on our minds. Only two of us were insured to drive the van, so that meant a lot of sleepy driving. The others took turns sitting up front and keeping the driver awake. I couldn't sleep no matter who was where. I was alert, awake and vigilant for the 22 hours it took us to drive straight through. I was nervous.

When I pray thanks and praise, sometimes I envision pink roses. Bouquets of pink roses floating heavenward. I have no idea where it started, it's just something that I see when I close my eyes in thanks. On this trip, I prayed a lot for different things. But I struggled with the feeling that my fears about the drive were a lack of faith. I tried over and again to put the fears to rest and give it to God in prayer. Each time I did, I'd "hear" the same thing back: As you drive into your hometown, you will be sending Me pink roses in thanks for the safe trip. Still, I stayed awake, I couldn't rest.

At one point, our pastor was driving and I knew he was tired. It was in the middle of the night and we were a few hours from home. I saw him starting to nod in the rear view mirror and I called to him, "Chris! You're falling asleep, let Jim drive!" He pulled over at the next rest stop, wondering to me how in the world I caught him so fast. We all sleepily stretched out of the van and lumbered into the rest stop. I went into the ladies room and reached for the second stall. It seems I always use the second stall. This time though, I thought again and went into the third stall. I walked in, turned around, closed the door and froze.

Hanging on the back of the door was a bouquet of pink roses.