A series of unfortunate events...

Today I marginally avoided catastrophe!
I almost burned my house down.
Yes, really, I'm not joking!
Tuesday's are always busy and a little hectic for me.  Most Tuesdays I babysit two little girls who are close to the same age as my own daughter, and today that was the case.  The three girls and I had been coloring in the kitchen...why the kitchen?...I don't know! That's just what happened!  They were sitting in the floor and I was standing at the stove and coloring a "Flat Stanley" that my neice had sent to me in the mail.  Once we were all finished I packed up all the crayons and the coloring books and put it all away.  My two year old daughter, London, had rolled up one of her coloring pages into a tube to make a spyglass and she was playing with it while I was cleaning up our mess.  At one point she unrolled it and drew a triangle on it. She showed me the triangle and was so proud of it she said she wanted to keep it and show it to Daddy.  I laid the slightly-rolled-up paper at the back of the stove while I packed away the last of the crayons and moved Flat Stanley over to the counter-top.
It was lunch time and the girls wanted Macaroni and Cheese so I got out a pot, filled it with water and was about to place it on the burner when I smelled it....
No, not smoke - poop!
One of the girls had a dirty diaper.  I thought, I'll turn on the burner and while waiting for the water to boil I'll run and change her diaper.  I flipped on the burner, grabbed up the girl and headed for the bedroom.  A minute later I carried her back in the living room and deposited her on the floor just as my phone rang. I answered my phone and was talking to my neighbor just as I walked around the corner into the kitchen - where I was met with the sight of flames on my stove!
Not only was my water NOT boiling, I had turned on the WRONG burner! And said burner just happened to be a little too close to the coloring page my daughter had handed me earlier!  The page was now burning and pieces of ash were floating up, sprinkling my stove and landing in my pot of un-boiling water!
Without letting go of the phone (why would I? I'm a mom, I know how to multi-task!) I said "Holy Moley! I have a fire in my kitchen!"  I grabbed the piece of paper by a corner not engulfed by flames and tossed it into the sink! Then I dipped my fingers into the still-cold water in the pot and flicked water on the ash all over my stove!
Then, in the spirit of a true mom, I calmly continued my conversation with my neighbor...
As soon as I got off the phone though, I realized how close to calamity I had come!
I've been studying the book of Job lately and his life. Last night, at our Bible study, one person had commented that a study like this always makes you wonder what you're about to go through that will compare. 
My first thought, as I stared down at the burned coloring page in the sink and the ash on my stovetop, was Oh, please don't let this be a little taste of what may be to come!
However, I do want to be ready when those times come in which God changes the course of my life, the plans I have for my day. He WILL do so...sometimes He uses easy methods and welcoming things, and sometimes He uses what we might call a series of unfortunate events (usually to test us and teach us)!  My plan for that moment had been to make lunch for the girls...but in the process I got distracted, took my eyes off of the job at hand and that was almost devastating.  I had to start over, empty out the ashy pot of water and fill it back up.  I was given a second chance, and I was glad for that!  This time, I made SURE I turned on the correct burner, then never left my post!
I'm so thankful that God is the God of second chances in every aspect of our lives!  Even Job was given a second chance at a new life.  God is gracious and merciful...even when we're distracted, and maybe not focusing on the task before us!
Distraction CAN be devastating...thankfully, for me, this time, it was not!