Did you get into trouble a lot when you were a child? I usually didn’t, but there was this one time my momma was really upset with me and my cousin Jimbo.
I will have to say that I had an idyllic childhood. During the week, I started my day out watching “Captain Kangaroo.” Then I headed outside. After a long morning of swinging, digging in the dirt and chasing insects, my momma would fix me a chocolate ice cream cone. Since she didn’t go back to work until I was older, she also watched some of my cousins as well. One was Jimbo, who was a year younger than me. He loved playing outside as much as I did. One day we snuck up to Papaw’s barn. While my mom wasn’t happy about that, it didn’t upset her. That happened later.
It started with the TV show “Lost in Space.” That was my and Jimbo’s favorite show. Mom would yell at us when it was time for it to come on. We ran inside and plopped down in front of the TV and didn’t move until it went off. Then we would run back outside and have our own adventures based on the episode we had just watched. We pretended Papaw’s cows and the dogs were aliens or monsters. Our index fingers and thumbs were laser guns. Papaw’s tractors and farm trucks were robots or spaceships. There were no limits to our imaginations.
On this one particular day, Mom was also watching our little cousin Julie. She had just started to walk and was still in diapers. Jimbo and I were sitting directly in front of the TV as we watched “Lost in Space.” Unfortunately for Julie, she walked in front of the TV and stopped. Jimbo and I immediately reached up and yanked her down to the ground. She hit went down with a loud “thump.” Of course, she began to cry. Actually, she squalled.
I knew that was trouble and I was right. Mom came flying into the room and asked what happened. We informed her that Julie had blocked the TV, so we had to get her out of the way. In our minds our actions were justified. To say my mom went nuts is an understatement. She informed us you don’t pull a baby down. We responded: “But we couldn’t see the TV!” You know, that made her even more upset. Needless to say, Jimbo and I didn’t get to finish watching that episode.
“The righteous cry, and the Lord heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles.” Psalm 34:17 (KJV)
As soon as my mom heard Julie cry, she came to the rescue. It’s the same with the Lord. When He hears His children cry out, He will deliver them from their problems. He will do it in His time and in His manner. Best of all, He can do that in ways that go beyond our expectations.
In the picture, I’m holding one of my drawings. I don’t know why since I wasn’t that good at it. In the background behind me, my cousin Julie is walking around in her diapers. Notice that she stayed out of arms-length from me? Can’t say that I blame her.
Brooke Cox is an author, speaker, and storyteller. She was a 2016 Selah Awards Finalist for Debut Novel. Her children’s book: “Dinosaur Eggs,” is now available. It is based on Ephesians 6: The Armor Wof God. Her novel “Until the Moon Rises: A Conniving Cousin Mystery” is also available. Also, she has two books out in her storytelling series “Saucy Southern Stories.” The Amazon links for her books may be found on her website: brookecoxstories.com. Please feel free to contact her. She would love to hear from you.