Disasters are happening all around me. I don’t deserve this.

God sure has strange ways of increasing my income lately. Often it comes at the expense of others.

Case in point: last week I went into work to deliver windows. I was told it was going to be a three and a half day run east of Ft Worth.

When I got to work Tuesday morning I saw the truck I was to deliver was just beginning to be loaded. It’s at least a half day process to load a full truck.

My first thought was: I sure could have used that half day to catch up on my sleep. Just wish somebody had told me.

Then I was met by my dispatcher who gave me the new low down about how things were to progress for the week. Let’s call it Plan B.

He began the conversation with this quote: “This has been a rough week.”

I said, “But, it’s only Tuesday morning.”

Come to find out one driver was in a fender-bender accident in one of the construction zones south of Waco. No injuries, just a damaged fifth-wheel trailer.

A second driver went to the hospital with a high blood pressure issue. I didn’t ask about the blood pressure of the accidented driver.

What this meant for me is that I had to make the Dallas deliveries on Tuesday before I headed east to commence with my original route.

I hoped that meant I’d be ahead of schedule for most of that trip, minus a day.

So much for thinking wishfully.

I did complete my deliveries in good shape Wednesday.

Then I headed south to Baton Rouge. Yeah, the same Baton Rouge that was flooded out recently.

Message boards warned that I-10 was closed west of where I needed to go. Fortunately, I was able to travel eastward on I-20 farther than usual before I went south.

I texted my dispatcher around 3:00 that I’d need a room in Baton Rouge that evening.

I grabbed a sandwich in Natchez, Mississippi after I crossed the mighty river. A rainbow greeted me to assure everyone God wasn’t about to flood the entire planet.

A half hour later my dispatcher calls me to tell me all the motels are booked solid in BR.

That meant I not only had to back-track to Natchez for the night, but I’d lose 1.5 hours from my schedule the following morning.

Piles of debris along the curbs brought flash backs to three years ago when I assisted in clean-up after the Moore, Oklahoma tornado.

My second delivery was in a particularly precarious position. The storage unit the windows are delivered into is raised a few feet above ground level. The office is attached to a church that sits in a basin/field with three large culverts draining out of it. I think I could bend over and walk through said culverts without touching my knees to the ground.

There was a mud line on the windows in the storage unit that were there before I arrived. It came to the bottom of my rib cage. I hate to think how bad the office and church were.

It would have filled quite a few Olympic-sized swimming pools.

I was grateful I’ve been taking such good care of myself while I unloaded all 14 windows by myself, nine of them were a foot taller than me.

The humidity was so thick I was drenched completely when I finished. Even my leather belt was soaked.

I had three deliveries in Mississippi on Friday that went off without a hitch. The last stop was in Jackson, Tennessee.

Two miles before the stateline the truck started making a new hissing noise. I concentrated on the air gauges to make sure I didn’t need to pull over.

After I completed that delivery I drove to Ryder to see if my noise needed attention. Three hours and a new air hose later I was good to go. I was treated to a full rainbow while I waited.

Instead of sleeping in Little Rock I was stuck in Brownsville, Tennessee.

A traffic accident in Memphis the following morning held me up some more. Fortunately, I was able to detour around it without being as stuck as many drivers were.

When I left home Tuesday morning I hoped to be back in time to run Friday afternoon. I didn’t get back home until 10:30 Saturday night.

So, two accidents, a hospital visit, a natural disaster and a truck breakdown stretched my week out an extra day and a half. Hopefully it increases my paycheck as well.

None of those events was my fault. So, I could complain that I didn’t deserve any of it last week.

Fortunately, I’m not in the habit of placing blame. I learned long ago it rarely fixes anything.

I also know God is in control of each event. I’m grateful I was strong enough to complete my deliveries, alert enough to avoid my own accidents and I got to Louisiana after the floods so I could do my job well.

Realizing how disasters seem to occur all around me I spent part of Sunday afternoon at my local blood bank donating a pint of blood.

I hope anyone who receives my blood will have their life span increased long enough to accept Jesus’s blood as the redemption fluid needed for entry into heaven when their time on this earth is through.

Do your best to make a difference for God’s kingdom as well.

Keep smiling.   Wade