Woke up Laughing

I woke up laughing. Sorta. I mean I did wake up, but only after I hit the snooze alarm half dozen times. Four o’clock was just tooooo early this morning.

Anyway, about a quarter to five, I’m waking up and thinking it’s time to get to work when all of a sudden I remember last Monday at the International Christian Retailer Show.

And I start laughing.

Tracey Bateman and I taxied over to the show with Steph Whitson and and her husband, Dan, along with Cindy Bell. We told the driver to take us to the front of the convention center, but for some reason, he dropped us off at the side (Denver is a confusing downtown) and drove off.

The entry doors were locked. What were we going to do? We spotted a photo shoot going on so one those folks let us in. Looked like they were shooting some Christian band. Couple of young guys mugging for the camera while men and women in suits looked on going, “Great, baby, fantastic, you’re going to be stars.”

Well, we’ve got to figure out how to get to the front of the convention center to get Tracey’s badge. But it looks like we’re in the basement or something. Dan finds the elevator and we ride up. We get off. We walk through a door.

Ta-da! We are ON the convention floor. How cool is this? We’re walking around. Not very many people. Tracey wants to find the Barbour booth. I want to find Thomas Nelson. Then we pass the front doors. Low and behold, there are masses waiting to get in.

The show floor hasn’t even opened yet, and there we are walking around like we own the place. And Tracey yet without her badge.

This morning, the memory made me laughing. Four forty-five, I’m telling Tony this story.

“Tracey wanted me to go with her to get her badge and I said, ‘I’m not going out there.'” So, I waited for her just inside the doors. And bam! They let people in. Oh the humanity!

I saw Joan Marlow Golan right away, then Chris Selby! He’s married to our dear friend Christy – whom we haven’t seen in forever – and runs his grandfather’s minitry, Derek Prince Ministries.

Another writer friend wanted me to give a story synopsis to her agent, who I saw right away among the throng. What are the odds?

I felt so in the right place at the right time. Tracey came back a few seconds later and got to meet Chris.

So, there you have it. How Tracey and I beat the ICRS system.

You know, God is like that with us sometimes. He provides a side door, an extra way in to a situation because He loves us. Some things, He doesn’t bend on. Yeah, Jesus is still the Way, the Truth and the Life, the only way of salvation.

But then there are thing like the year my company gave me 160 too many vacation hours. I told them five times it was wrong and what my vacation hours were supposed to be. And in the end, I still had 160 hours too many. By then the records were so mixed up I don’t think anyone knew how many hours I really had.

They decided last minute my job didn’t deserve any more salary, EVER, no matter how hard I worked nor did I deserve any growth path so I could advance and earn money. Looking back, I know God provided for me in another way. Time. I used all four extra weeks of vacation that year. I needed them. And, it was way more “money” than I would’ve earned in a raise.

Later, the Lord covered me again by giving me two lump sums totally over $3,500. So, you know, sometimes you get to ride the elevator to the side door and be standing there to greet the masses when they are finally let in.

Hey, Tracey! Miss you!

Peace.