Pizza and Stitches: God in the Ordinary!

The description of this blog is "An ordinary person in search of the divine workings of an extraordinary God in the midst of very normal circumstances." Last week, I had such an excellent example of God showing up in the ordinary that I just have to share it with you! Ready? Grab some popcorn and let's go. :) 


It all started 2 years ago. Yes, 2 years ago. Let me explain. 2 years ago, Logan and I were helping with a week long Bible Kids Club at an apartment complex. There were LOTS of kids and 3 teachers. Oops. 

Me and Breydin at the Kids Club.

So, to make that arrangement work, the three teachers asked two teenage boys, Tristan and Breydin, from North Valley Bible Church to help with crowd control. They said ok, and did a great job helping. Logan and I said we were going to take them out to dinner to thank them for their willingness and excellent

Tristan (right) and Josiah at the Kids Club, with another helper (Sarah)

service. We budgeted the money, promised to set something up, and looked forward to it.


Fast forward two years. Life gets busy, changes happen, and we never get around to taking them out. But, we still have the money budgeted! Some of the changes that happened result in Logan and I taking over the youth group at North Valley Bible Church, which consists mainly of Tristan and Breydin. :O 



Every week, Tristan and Breydin come to our house for dinner and a Bible Study. So we say to each other, "Why not take them out for the dinner we promised them for doing such a great job helping with the Kids Club?" Perfect! We'll finally fulfill our promise and they'll be properly thanked for their service. 



So, last Friday we took them out to Pizza Pie Cafe, a delicious all-you-can-eat pizza place that our family loves. Being a Friday night, the line was waayyy long so we ended up waiting for awhile. While we're waiting, Josiah starts hanging out with some other kids around the little "vending machines". You know the kind. The 25 cent money stealers that attract kids like Elsa attracts ice. 



This particular money stealing attraction featured rubber bouncy balls which are Josiah's kryptonite. He immediately started begging for one of these balls and was told no. For starters, I didn't have a quarter. For enders, even if I did I wasn't going to buy him anything from those money sucking machines. That's not a path I'm walking down. 

Not the bouncy ball, but similar.

As I was explaining to him that he would just have to deal with the heart break of not obtaining the coveted rubber bouncy ball, one of the little boys he'd been standing with walked up.

 This little boy held out his hand to Josiah and offered him what his heart so desperately sought- the rubber bouncy ball! I looked to the left and saw a beaming mother, obviously the master mind behind the whole thing. I smiled and said thank you, while inwardly thinking, "Really? Come on! If I wanted my son to have a bouncy ball, I would have bought him one myself!" But let me tell you, I was thankful for that little bouncy ball before the night was over!

All of us at Pizza Pie Cafe!

The little boy returned to his mother, I went back to our youth group, and Josiah clutched his prize triumphantly in his little hand. It kept him busy for the next 15 minutes while we waited to sit down, and he actually did a fairly good job of not throwing it at peoples heads. Not too hard, at least. 


Fast forward an hour and a half. We pull into our driveway (which is made of asphalt and has little pebbles sticking out of it) and start waddling like overstuffed toads into our house. Josiah is walking with Logan, still exclaiming over his good fortune in getting his rubber bouncy ball and still waving it about happily.

In one of those inexplicable "How did that even happen" moments, Josiah trips over something. (Was it his foot? A tiny pebble? An invisible cat?)

The Injury!

 He does a little half turn and smacks the side of his head against the asphalt. Blood starts pouring out of this tiny little piercing on the side of his head, and the wailing starts.


Logan and I cleaned him up as best we could and discovered this tiny little cut was deep. We made our first parenting decision relating to an injury- we're going to the ER to get stitches. 


So we went to the ER and spent the next four hours waiting in various locations of the ER. Josiah clutched his little rubber bouncy ball through the whole ordeal of getting his cut cleaned, having a syringe stuck inside his open cut, and having two little stitches put in.

 

Waiting room faces!

If you know my son (or any two and a half year old, probably) you'd know that he never goes anywhere without a toy. He finds security and peace in having one, and occupies himself with it while I'm hauling him around running errands. 

Seriously, we waited a long time.

In this case, he clutched his little rubber bouncy ball as comfort through what was probably a pretty scary experience for a very tired two year old, and distracted himself from needles, nurses, and pain with it.

Brave faces!

Post-stitches. Not the best picture, but you get the idea.

Reflecting on it later, Logan and I were amazed at God's goodness to us and a little two year old who loves bouncy balls. God knew I wasn't going to buy Josiah that little rubber bouncy ball (which is a fine decision), and He knew that Josiah was going to go to the ER without having time to go home and get a toy of his own. So, He moved in the heart of a beaming mother and her son to give Josiah a little rubber bouncy ball to get him through the experience. The result? Blessings all around! The mother and her son got a good memory of giving a toy to a cute little boy, Josiah got the comfort of his favorite kind of toy in the ER, and we got to see how much God loves us and our son. 


See what I mean about the Divine Ordinary? God loves to bless us through things that seem so ordinary we may not even notice them unless we're looking for them.

God blessed us through a little rubber bouncy ball this week- how has He blessed you?