What kind of week has it been...

Well.

I told my boss the other day that I wouldn't be so stressed out if I only had to deal with one emergency at a time. But life doesn't happen that way, does it?

Almost every workday in the last two weeks has felt like an episode of 24: either an emergency or the consequences of an emergency must be juggled and dealt with as quickly as possible before the situation spirals out of control. But it's not like I could simply drop what I was doing to deal with the new emergency, because I was still resolving the last emergency. All while trying to do the job tasks that have to be done everyday. And training someone, because one of our office has been out very sick the entire time. There would be a point every day where I would simply stare at my desk trying to triage all the tasks that I had to take care of immediately.

It's almost funny now, because the story doesn't end there. All week I fought insomnia. On one particular day, a truck driver decided to call my cellphone at 2:45 in the morning because he couldn't find our facility. Why he didn't call his dispatcher, I don't know. It took everything I had not to tell him off! He said "All they gave me is an address." I wanted to tell him to buy a map. Anyway, I never got back to sleep. So I decided to work a half day, go home at lunch, catch a nap, and live to fight another day. Quite literally 5 minutes before I was planning on leaving someone walked into my office with a huge problem that I needed to handle. I just shook my head.

Days like these offer my worst temptation for questioning God. I'm tired, harried, and using every ounce of mental effort I own to just keep my head above water. I want to ask why God couldn't space things out just a bit; after all, some days I'm really not busy at all. Is it too much to ask for one fire to fight at a time?

I managed to sneak away for just a couple minutes to grab lunch before jumping back into the fray. And that's when I got a phone call. One of my best friends called just too say that he had been praying for me but wanted to know if he could pray for something in particular. That's why I don't believe in coincidences. That timing is just too perfect. I think I was at the end of my rope. I was really ready to just let God have it when He extended a hand.

I told my friend a few days later that he saved my week. It's not like my week got any better. He just helped me with some perspective. And the realization that someone else is praying for you is powerful.

I would encourage you to pray for your friends. Pray often. And occasionally let them know about it. It can't hurt. Drop them a card, send a text, call them and tell them that you are thinking about them and prayed to God for them today. Isn't that what family is all about?