On the run at the Regional Medical Center

3:13 p.m. Today's project was to pick up Pamela and take her to a lab appointment at the Regional Medical Center in Moreno Valley. I had managed to squeeze in a chiropractor adjustment earlier, Steve was busy mowing the lawn as I left, and all went well, including dropping Pam off at the entrance while I looked for a parking spot.

If you have a choice, I would not recommend going to that hospital on a Friday morning--or is the parking lot always like this? I drove around and around, knowing my friend was waiting for me to bring her purse to her, and there was not a spot to be found, among hundreds of visitor parking spaces. So I pulled up at the entrance area for patient drop off and pick up, ran inside without even my own purse, but no Pam! Yikes! I asked the front desk lady where the lab was, and how long I could stay parked in front. "Fifteen minutes is all." So I walked/ran as fast as I could, not very fast with the crowds, and made it over there--no Pam! I figured she had gone in, so I got in a mercifully short line to leave a message that I had her bag and was going back outside to retrieve my car. Time kept ticking away, so I had to leave, fast as I could, looking out from a distance to the front entrance and --no Jeep! Had they towed it?

I panicked, praying God would be merciful to my feckless but well-meaning self, zipping out to the front, where I nearly ran into--Pam! She had been waiting for me all along. We realized that I had parked at the WRONG [practically identical] front entrance, so I told her I had only 15 minutes, probably down to one minute at this point, gave her her purse, promised that I'd meet her back at the lab, and tore off running in flat, loose, backless sandals that could have caused a twisted ankle the way this day was going, and PRAISE GOD, there was the Jeep!!

God is faithful! But He does throw some humor into our mishaps, doesn't He? This time, after cruising the lot, and after a few false starts--you know, people who only appear to be backing out--I found a shady spot to back into, and walked at a normal pace back to the hospital, found Pam awaiting her turn for the blood draw, and we enjoyed fellowship both there and at Farmer Boys later for lunch.

Poor health, a frightening test result, or a unsettling prognosis is not what we would pray for, is it? I've heard my doctor's words: "the lump is cancer." I've been through surgery and radiation, and waited for 5 long years to pass for all tests to come back cancer free--I am a breast cancer survivor. But I also know that cancer is an incurable disease, and another version of this scourge could break out elsewhere in my body. And sadly, I know that my children will now have that concern in the back of their minds as they approach middle age. They will all, males and females alike, need to be diligent with their exams. Knowing the facts, and also understanding what those facts mean, are powerful, especially for the believer in Christ! We are told in Philippians 4:6 to "let your requests be made known to God." We won't request His help if we don't know what ails us!

God's love, help, and care are available to His children at all times--call on Him!