“A tombstone with the human touch had this unique inscription, “I expected this, but not just yet.”

To my east trouble came this weekend when Louisiana received copious amounts of rain.  Three are now dead, and 7000 evacuated.  We used to work in that part of Louisiana, and though I have not been there since the death of my husband, I cannot help but wonder about people we knew from the area which have been devastated by the flood.

My friend once again had someone pilfering around his ranch this weekend. Thankfully nothing was stolen, but it keeps him quite uneasy.  He has had many unexpected illnesses of friends recently, friends he has known all of his life, and some who have passed on to their reward.

We all have unexpected troubles which blind side us.  We never saw the trouble coming.  I have often heard it said, “expect the unexpected.”  We never know, just as Job, when trouble may hit, but trouble will come to us all, and not a matter of  “if,” but “when” and “how bad.”

“I was not in safety, neither had I rest, neither was I quiet;  yet trouble came.”    Job 3:26

I am reminded of a lyric in a song, “life can turn on a dime.”

“When Job was enjoying health, happiness and prosperity, he did not expect his children to be slain, his property to be taken, his body to be afflicted with boils from head to foot. and his friends to deride him.

Today, we know illness will come, but we don’t expect it to strike when it does.  We are susceptible to accidents, but we’re not looking for them when they arrive.  The dismissal slip comes.  When it does you suddenly belong to the unemployed.  This catches you unaware.

Burglars strip your house.  Precious valuables are gone.  You had not planned to cope with this loss.  A storm rips off your roof.  Much damage is done.  You weren’t expecting this. You never thought it would happen. The death angel visits your family and kisses to sleep a dear one.  And your heart aches and bleeds and breaks.  The shock is severe.  You hadn’t counted on it.

What, oh what, can we do to handle unexpected trouble?

First learn from Job who maintained his faith and trust in God.  He said, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him”    Job 13:15      Leave it to Him.

Second.  Meet the problem with grit.  You have strength you don’t know you have.  When the occasion comes you can draw on it.”    ~ Leroy Brownlow

My father-in-law (deceased) served in Paris, France during World War II.  He was one of many soldiers who helped free those who were in Buchenwald.  These people never saw trouble coming, but it did.  The following is a description of what happened at Buchenwald.

“I asked to see one of the barracks.  It happened to be occupied by Czechoslovaks.  When I entered, men crowded around, tried to lift me to their shoulders.  They were too weak.  Many of them could not get out of bed.  I was told that this building had once stabled 80 horses.  There were 1,200 men in it, five to a bunk.  The stink was beyond all description.

They called a doctor.  We inspected his records.  There were only names in the little black book nothing more.  Nothing about who these men were, what they had done, or hoped.  Behind the names of those who died, there was a cross.  I counted them.  They totalled 242.  242 out of 1, 200, in one month.

As we walked out into the courtyard, a man fell dead.  Two others, they must have been over 60, were crawling toward the latrine.  I saw it, but will not describe it.”
~  Edward R Murrow,  April 15, 1945

The following words were found scrawled on a cellar wall where Jews had hidden in World War II in Cologne, Germany.

“I believe in the sun, even when it is not shining.
“I believe in love, even though I don’t feel it.
“I believe in God, even when He is silent.”

Eileen Light