If I were to ask you, what do a jaw-breaker, a severed finger tip and a ride with the principle have in common, what would you say?  Well, if you guessed things that happened to each of my sons last Wednesday you would be absolutely right.  It all started late that morning.  Around 11 o’clock, Austin was eating a jaw-breaker (a piece of very hard candy) when suddenly he made a desperate sounding gasp and stopped breathing.  Thankfully my well prepared wife was right there with him.  She immediately administered the Heimlich maneuver, dislodging it from his throat.  Then he was able to remove it with his finger.  After the incident, he said with a tearful voice, "Next time mommy, I will just get a sucker or a tootsie roll.”  Now all jaw-breakers are forever banned from our house. 

            But wait there is more.  Less than two hours later, after lunch was over, Austin was closing the door to his room to keep his baby brother out.  As the door shut, we heard a very shrill scream from Logan. In an instant Amanda picked him up thinking his finger was only mashed.  We immediately spotted blood and soon realized he had almost completely severed the tip of his right pinky finger off when it got caught in the door.  Of course this meant an emergency trip to the E.R. and later to Kosair’s Children’s Hospital in Louisville for an overnight stay and surgery the next morning to reattach his finger.  Thankfully all went well and he will be fine. 

            While on the way to the local hospital, I had to call the Elementary school and try to make arrangements for Ethan to be brought to the hospital with us, knowing we would not be home when he got off the bus.  Thankfully a good brother in Christ just so happens to be the principal there and was more than willing to give him a ride immediately to the hospital.  And to top it off when we got to the hospital, we saw a good sister-in-Christ (who just so happens to be the principles sister) at the hospital as we were going in.  Her services were immediately offered to us to watch our children. 

            In the end there have been many phone calls from concerned brethren (turns out word travels quickly in Falls of Rough) and several have offered to help in any way.  Fortunately, it turned out we did not need any extra help.  But what can we (especially me) learn from all of this?  Well I have learned once again the importance of brethren.  Sometimes we give little thought to the relationships we have with our brothers and sisters-in-Christ outside of church, but these relationships are important.  Each of us is reminded/ will be reminded of this in our times of need.  Make every effort to show your brethren how much you love and appreciate them and let them know you will be there for them when they need you.  One day you will need them. 

Brian