In My Father's Arms

I don't know how big a deal the 4th of July is for other small towns, but here in Snyder it's pretty much an all day event. We went to the parade at 10 in the morning and stood by the side of the road for an hour while the whole thing passed us by. Beth was the only kid standing in our section and so she got all of the candy thrown her way. By the end of the parade she had a Wal-Mart sack full of candy. (We have been doling this out just a very few pieces a day especially since Michelle had made cookies for the 4th as well). After the parade was over, we walked back to Michelle's grandmother's (Mamaw's) house and sat in her air-conditioning for a while to cool off before heading home. Once we got home we set off some day-time fireworks (making sure to have a hose handy as we haven't had rain for a while) and then put the kids down for nap.

That evening we headed back into town for dinner at Mamaw's. We spent the evening their using sparklers and generally enjoying each other's company. Towards sunset Michelle, Beth, Thad, Michelle's folks and I walked to the park for the fireworks show. We had a little bit of daylight left to set up our chairs and then we settled in to wait for the show to start. Then it happened. My little carefree, daredevil of a daughter heard the first boom of the fireworks and lost her head. She started shaking like a leaf and just got worse with each successive boom. She hid her face in my chest. She was finally able to calm down a bit when I wrapped her tight in my arms. I was able to get her to turn around and watch one of the fans of color that wasn't so loud, but then another big one went off and she snuggled back in and quivered. The next fan that went off I couldn't even get her to turn around to see. She kept telling me, "There will be more boom!" So I held her tight, soothed her, covered her ears and didn't try to get her to turn around anymore. When we got back to Mamaw's house, she was asked if she liked the fireworks and she said yes, but then admitted that the "booms" scared her. We decided next year to bring ear protection for her too, as her little brother had gun range ear muffs on and enjoyed the whole show.

The whole episode made me think of our position as Christians. We are safe in our Father's arms. There's sometimes scary noises going on all around us, and things we don't understand that cause us to worry and tremble. But we can put our faces into His chest and be comforted. We can trust Him to take care of us. We can know that He knows what He's doing. Even if we're scared to look because there will be "more boom" He will hold us and love us. I am so grateful for the fact that we have a Heavenly Father who is the perfect father and is so amazingly better than even the best of earthly fathers. He is Good.