Secure now and forever

4:42 p.m. Today's project was to program my new Freedom Alert pendant, which I received over a week ago to replace the one I've had hanging from my neck every minute I'm here at home. I purchased it for its features, especially the lack of a monthly fee. Two years ago, I took the wise advice of a friend who made me realize that when I'm alone with Steve, it's not like being with any other adult who could call 911 in an emergency, or even perform CPR if necessary. Patty's opinion was confirmed one afternoon when I sliced my thumb with a knife, and Steve couldn't even open a Bandaid to help me apply pressure by wrapping it tightly around my thumb. Thanks be to the Lord that my oldest son came over just in time. He was putting in a microwave for us, and stopped the bleeding.

Psalm 4:8b says of the Lord, and I believe it,

You alone make me dwell in safety. 

All has gone well until the last couple of months, when the pendant began announcing randomly, "Battery is OK." The  information is nice, but that is supposed to be the response only when I press the small grey button on the back. I would have just ignored it, but when the pendant "speaks," the base unit does, too, only louder. and since Steve goes to bed so early, there's a chance of waking him up. So today, I called the company, and with the help of a very patient customer service lady, got the new pendant working.

Mondays are unique days anyway, for most of us, the beginning of the business week. Phone calls that stalled over the weekend have to be made; additionally, I make plans with our Brightstar home care agency for  Steve's afternoon and evening care. The good parts are prayer time with my prayer partner Cara, and the start of note taking for my Thursday Bible study. What a joy to delve into the Word of God! My spirit and soul just blossom! As Psalm 119:40 says,

Behold, I long for Your precepts; revive me in Your righteousness.

Hours in the scriptures, with a quick sunshine break for watering the front planter and the slope, had me in a blessed frame of mind,  ready to pick up a prescription for Steve and mail a package of supplements from our son Steven to his older brother Kriss. Here's where my day could have fallen off the wagon: while parked at the Towne Centre, I called our house alarm company, Protection One, to fix a longstanding error in the system. Last Friday, the monitoring people called my daughter Heidi to report an alarm going off at 8:23 a.m. Funny thing is, I was HOME at that time, and no such thing occurred ! It's not like I, or anyone else for a 1/8 mile around can miss that alarm blaring!

The "emergency" for them was a failure to receive a particular signal. This has been going on since they switched the system to digital last December. I (and poor Jada, our Lab) have endured full throttle siren tests every few months, especially on rainy days. Is there a connection? I politely declined another siren test, because it's going to turn into a "boy who cried wolf" situation for us in the neighborhood pretty soon! And while popularity is not my goal, I do want to be a good neighbor and witness to those who may have napping children, or who work night shifts. Proverbs 27:14 talks about neighborhood disruption:

He who blesses his friend with a loud voice, rising early in the morning,
It will be counted a curse to him.

At any rate, after a very long conversation, with me on repeated holds while the rep consulted with the techs, we agreed that someone will be over tomorrow between 8 and 12. I'll be home writing, so that will work. May they come to a conclusion and solve the issue!!

All of these security measures for our persons and property, probably seems excessive if one believes (as I do) that God has an exact day for each of us to exit this earth; and that material things will be no more when Christ returns (as I do). 2 Peter 3:10:

But the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.

We've had an alarm system for the house for 24 years, due to a rash of break-ins when the neighborhood was new. Plus, bless his heart, Steve was concerned for me being the only adult home on the block with four small children to care for all day every day. That Protection One yard sign has spared us some grief, I am sure. We see protecting the belongings God has seen fit to provide as more stewardship than fear.

With the personal alert system, Steve's condition was the driver for that decision. I would be hard-pressed to remove him from the house in the middle of the night in a fire--he is disoriented in broad daylight at the directive to go to the garage and get in the car, with me right there with him! I placed  a sign in our front window that informs emergency personnel that there is a disabled person inside, and the nature of his disability. They will have to remove and secure an incoherent person if I, his caregiver, happen to be the one with the heart attack or serious fall.  Again, it seems that stewardship would demand prudence and preparation.

Since not one of us is going to live a day longer than we are allotted on this earthly scene, I like the question Peter asks further on in 2 Peter 3, vv. 11-12:

Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? 

If we live for Christ and serve Him in love, we will joyfully be able to say in agreement, verse 13,

Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.