Joe the Man

10 years we've been married (as of October 16). It's hard to believe, yet I feel like he's such a part of me that I can barely remember life without him. It's been fun thinking about our 10 years and realizing/remembering all of the many reasons I love that man. He's just good. He's good to others, he's funny, he protects, he enjoys his family. He makes us his first priority (besides God of course). He listens to me. He adores me. I like that. I could have made some really poor decisions before I met Joe, and am so thankful that God just didn't let that happen and He put Joe in my life. He's what I always dreamed about in a husband. I'm so blessed.

I wanted to share a couple of stories that he's done recently. They'll show some of his goodness.

In our neighborhood: He's had a heart for this very difficult family. They have a gazillion kids. They never watch those gazillion kids. It's a miracle none of the kids have been hurt by zooming cars, other people, etc. The adults, I believe, are likely involved in gang or drug-activity. My instinct is to pray for them, but never speak to them. Isn't that awful? I give them the friendly wave, and am kind to their boys (I let them help me plant flowers, give them occasional snacks, etc.) But, to be totally honest, I haven't wanted to do much to help them realize they need God and that they can change. I still, as I write this, don't have the answers for how to help them. But Joe, he's constantly trying to figure out how to reach out to them.

Anyway, one day, he was mowing the lawn, and two of the guys who frequent the house were sitting on the porch. He walked akwardly over to them and did about 30 seconds of small talk and then said, "I think God wants me to pray for you." They looked at him like he was a freak. So he says, "I'm going to go ahead and do that now. Do you have anything specific you want me to pray about for you?" The one guy just shrugs and says, "No Man." The other guy says something about how he could pray for his kids. So Joe prayed for that guy's kids and then prayed that God would haunt these men until they knew Him (outloud, mind you). Then he akwardly walked back and resumed mowing his lawn. Since then, the one that was a little more open to being prayed for has opened up to Joe a couple of times, admitting to some jail history, and that his ex won't let him near those kids. He has asked him to pray for him a couple more times, saying he always feels better. He also told Joe that he's felt "weird" since he first prayed for him, and that on that first day he prayed, he was supposed to fight some guy in the neighborhood, but never left the porch when he drove up. He said, "I just couldn't do it."

We have since learned some very unfortunate news about the main man who lives there (not the guy who let Joe pray), and our answers are fewer. Joe says, "In whatever way I can, I still think I'm supposed to show love and pray with them when I get the chance." I admire him. God protects him.

So, my other story: This one has to do with a redeeming value of our being forced to walk the diabetes road. Joe ran into Walmart one day, and while in line to check-out, the check-out lady next to him passed out. Joe quickly observed another worker saying something to the effects that "she hasn't done this in a long time," and grabbing a packet of Reese's Pieces and trying to shove them in her clamped shut mouth. Joe says to the conscious one, "do you have a pharmacy or a cake aisle?" She looks at him like he was the most insensitive person ever and said, "I don't know, I'm trying to help her here!" He says, "I know, it's for her, I think I can help." So she directs him to the cake aisle. He grabs a tube of cake frosting, and brings it back. He opens it and directs the other worker to rub it on the lady's gums. After a few minutes, the diabetic lady gains enough strength to ask for a soda. One of the other workers quickly grabs a Diet Coke (still they didn't understand what had happened). Because her sugar was low, she had passed out, Joe realized this and knew to help. He quickly realized she needed a real Coke and grabbed her one. She was better and they were grateful for his quick thinking.

It made me cry the next day when I really thought about what had happened. God clearly had Joe next to her when she lost consciousness. He was able to intervene because he knew what to do, and he didn't hesitate.

My Hero!