Taking Thoughts Captive

Hubby and I had a wild weekend. We drove into LA, near LAX from Arizona, and spoke at a church Sunday morning. Doing something like this you really need to be in sync. One goes down, we both go down. One gets off, we both run off. One gets an, Amen, it feels like both of us get an, Amen. One disappears, the other panics.

After forging through LA traffic—we could now accomplish anything. *Insert strong arm flexing emoji.

The church had two services and after the first was over I felt like you do when you hit the bottom of a water slide.

My husband told me he was going to be using the facilities.

Then, the second service began. I’m in the front row singing worship music and Mike is MIA. I look around and I can’t see him. The lead pastor of the church who was seated to my lift with his lovely wife whispered to me, “I guess you’re doing this one alone,” then chuckled and smiled.

I appreciated the confidence, but this is when panic began to set in.

The first song finished and still no hubby.

Could he be in the bathroom throwing up? What did he eat last night? Could he have gotten bad food? Maybe those pancakes at breakfast didn’t sit well with him.

Oh no! Where is he? This could be a real disaster if I have to do this service alone. And this is the live stream service! Nooooo. God help me.

At the close of the second song my mind had really gone to the dark side.

What if he collapsed and is laying on the floor dead somewhere? At what point do I send someone to look for him? My heart was racing.

As the third song started…

Why isn’t he here? I’ll text him. I look beside me and see his cell phone. Ugh! Wherever he is he doesn’t have his cell. I guess I’m just going to have to do this service and figure this whole thing out after.

This is going to be ugly, but I’ll give it my best shot. Big breath! 

Suddenly, Mike appears. I think my heart leaped with joy for a few beats.

As he sat down next to me, I wanted to scream, WHERE WERE YOU?!!

But instead, I smiled and whispered through my gritted teeth, “I was so scared. What happened? Where’d you go?”

And here’s what he said:

“I was talking to a guy in the foyer about relationships.” Of course he was.

Well, that totally made sense since that was our topic of the morning. Why didn’t I think of that option?

It’s so easy to allow our minds to run to “the worst scenario possible.”

But I wouldn’t know about that.

“We are destroying arguments and all arrogance raised against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.”

– 2 Corinthians 10:5

For more from Lucille Williams check out her books The Impossible Kid: Parenting a Strong-Willed Child with Love and Grace, and for your marriage, From Me to We, and The Intimacy You Crave. And on preorder Turtle Finds His Talent for ages 0-4. We invite you to subscribe to LuSays today for weekly encouragement.