....the flying mattress on the way to church...

When we left Jamaica we didn't realize that our king size bed wouldn't fit in the apartment sooooooo all parts of it have been leaning against the living room wall since July 27th.  I advertised it for sale, a couple came to look at it, I passed the word around and it just wasn't moving.

It would be too cumbersome to set up at the yard sale so a couple of weeks ago I contacted our dear pastor friend in Emmaus and asked if he knew of anyone who needed a bed. He said give me a couple of days and I will ask the church and some other churches that I am in contact with.

We were so excited from his call later on saying that there was a lady in his church that unbeknownst to him and others was sleeping on the floor. She has 3 daughters and he was quite surprised. He asked Lily why she had never mentioned it, her response was humbling. "There are others worse off than me"....needless to say we were delighted to give her the bed.

Since we had borrowed Pastor Bill's truck for the week we loaded the bed on it to return the truck, preach in the church and just have a great reunion. Bill and Sue, Denny and I were in Zion Bible Institute together in the seventies. Denny was in their wedding and I sang at it. Lots of memories to rehash!

We loaded the truck early this morning after praying that God would give us a clear day so it wouldn't get wet. We started on our way, leaving plenty of time to drive slow and even stop to get some breakfast the nearer we got! Forget all those good plans! We were late to church.

We were going along, me following to be sure all was well. About 40 minutes into the trip on the expressway, no less, I thought I was dreaming! The mattress let loose and came flying at the car. Because of sheer surprise I stomped on the brakes, squealing and swerving, I was worried about the mattress hitting me in the front and the car behind me hitting me in the back.

The strangest part....Den in the truck kept driving with half a load! I was sitting by the guardrail, trying to find my phone and he is still be-bopping along!

Because I was shaken, I couldn't call him fast enough! He called me. Hey what's going on back there. I see you swerving, (later he told me he thought I blew a tire) I said, WHATS GOING ON IS A FLYING MATTRESS CAME AT ME LIKE A ROCKET!!

Oh brother...what to do? I couldn't get out of the car on the whizzing expressway, I wasn't safe to back up and try to find where it landed. I just prayed!

Den was able to go up and get off and loop back around which took about ten minutes. I finally saw the truck in my rearview mirror and saw him searching. He kept calling and telling me he couldn't see it! I thought, wow some person is going to wake up and see a mattress in their yard, they will think they had a tornado! Finally it was found. It was in a creek, on the other side of the guardrail, Den was in a suit, how in the world is this going to work!!

I asked God yesterday to bring us an angel to help us with the yard sale, it didn't happen. Today I asked again. I saw a truck stop and a young man jump out and later found out he was on the way to the farm to work so he didn't mind getting wet. While they were struggling with the mattress a huge frog hopped across it. I guess that was quite humourous.

They strapped it back on and although soaking wet, it was saved! Den called the pastor and apologized for our late arrival and told him the story. He told us later he was relieved it was just the mattress and not the truck in trouble!

We arrived at the church, had a great service and just prayed that the mattress would dry out some before we needed to deliver it to the lady!

Den had me tell the story in the service and unbeknownst to me the lady was sitting in the service and the part that troubled her the most was the frog!!

Well we are thrilled that Lilly will have a bed and a story to remember of its arrival!!