The Journey: Day 3

Tonight we went over to Nelson’s folks’ to celebrate his mom’s birthday (seriously, 8 family events in August!). Since his mom’s stroke last year, they have had a lot going on. It’s been rough on everyone.

At the dinner table he let the adults know his circumstances. I’m telling you, the guy is not the best salesman for no reason. He put it out there and then went right into his plans for the future.

Amazingly enough, God has given him a tremendous sense of peace through it all. He’s convinced this was God’s way of giving him the kick in the pants he needed to get out of there anyway. I’m thinking, “Hey God, a little head’s up next time and easy on the circumstances yo.”

His family doesn’t worry about him. Heaven knows they’ve got enough on their plates already. But honestly, Nelson is a go-getter, entrepreneur, self-motivated, multiple irons in the fire kind of guy. Why would they worry? They were like, “I’m sure you’ll be fine. You always are. Pass the potatoes.”

As we got ready for bed, it dawned on me that besides losing the job and the income, we were also going to lose health insurance. Up to this point, this was the scariest revelation. I know lots of people who have lost their jobs. I pray for them and am concerned. It never occurred to me that health insurance is part of the mix.

With five children, three of whom are boys, one of whom has a propensity for visiting the ER, my stomach dropped. What’s going to happen to us? How do we deal with this part?

In that moment, I wanted to pack up the kids, drive over to the house of the person responsible, knock on the door and say, “Do you see what you’ve done? Do you see these precious babies? Who is going to help when they get sick? How are we going to pay for their care?”  No worries, there would be no violence, just a heart-felt appeal to human nature. Thank goodness I do not know the address. It was late, the kids were tired and it wouldn’t have been pretty – though that would have kind of been my point.

Instead, I asked Nelson, “Is the health insurance already gone?”

“That’s a good question. I’ll call HR in the morning and find out.”

When I wrote the first post about this, I said it would be a journey. Something tells me the road is going to be a little rough. I pray The Lord sends some shock absorbers.