Strange Days

The past couple of days have been strange. I believe strange is an appropriate word for our experience, though it's likely there is another that fits better. The word connotes not only an occasion that is out of the ordinary, but one that it is not entirely negative or positive.
Tuesday was our scheduled day off so Rebecca and I headed out early that morning for Crater Lake National Park. Crater Lake is a remarkable phenomenon. I honestly cannot decide if it is more beautiful than it is interesting. It is the deepest lake in North America at 1,943 feet. However, by no means does it even compare with the deepest lake in the world which is in Siberia and reaches depths of more than 5,700 feet. Still, Crater Lake is not one I'd like to be dropped into with cement blocks on my hands and feet. Well, maybe I would because it is so beautiful.
The depth of the lake and the whitish-grey silt at the bottom sustain a remarkably captivating blue color in the water. The silt at the bottom reflects just blues and some greens through the lake.
Crater Lake apparently used to be an enormous volcano that imploded upon itself then filled with water over a period of about 8,000 years. So it is essentially a huge, deep, blue lake that sits in a giant bowl of mountain with sheer cliffs on almost all sides. Magnificent.
That day was a good day. Strange, however, because Crater Lake is such a surreal place. The next day, yesterday, was strange in a very different way.
Wednesday was Charlie and Sherrie's day off. They had plans to head into town and take care of some business, leaving Rebecca and me to watch over the wolves. But Sherrie had a heart attack that morning.
I came down in the morning to their house to see what Charlie had on the agenda for me to do that day. What I saw was not the typical Hell's Angel we were used to. Sherrie was seated in her chair while Charlie kind of paced back and forth not quite knowing what to do with himself. Sherrie has been a nurse for many years and was taking her blood pressure with some machine. Clearly distressed and having gone numb in her left arm, she asked her husband to call for an ambulance. Charlie was shaking so badly he couldn't even dial, so I took care of it.
When the ambulance came Rebecca directed them up the mountain to the house. The paramedics were there with us waiting outside for quite some time. They rolled Sherrie out on a gurney and we over heard them call in a helicopter to medi-vac her to a hospital about 50 miles away.
Eventually, a dazed and tired-seeming Charlie stumbled down the front steps. He looked us in the eye, gently smiled, and asked how our trip to Crater Lake was. Rebecca and I both were, and still are, in awe of what a kind man he is.
They were gone all day while Rebecca and I fed the wolves and prayed for Sherrie and Charlie. They came home about 7:30 that night, having been kicked out of the hospital by a doctor who didn't believe they had health insurance. This experience alone may have been enough to make them vote for Obama.
Now to say the past couple of days have been negative is not quite it. I can't honestly say they were positive either. They were strange. Strange, but good. Good, because they were given by a good God glorifying himself because there is nothing greater to glorify.
Sherrie is in stable condition and is going in for tests and possible cardiac surgery over the next couple of days. Please pray for her and Charlie to be open to hearing the Gospel. Pray for us to believe and profess the Gospel to ears and hearts open to receive it.