Holy Heartburn

Holy Heartburn!? (no interrobang on my punctuation keys)

This Sunday I was at worship in Alison and David’s church...College Park Baptist... and their Pastor, Michael Usey, preached using the road to Emmaus passage. In retelling this old story about the two believers being joined by a stranger on their walk home after the crucifixion, Michael used the phrase “holy heartburn” to describe the aftershock the believers felt when they realized Jesus had been their guest on the walk and for a meal. That phrase has been rocketing around in my head as I begin to process the past two months of my life.
A quick synopsis... our dear friend David, part of the farm family began actively dying... one of our children hit a really rough patch that required my presence for a month during the week to help with children... David died... a weekend trip to Pennsylvania for the first memorial service... another weekend memorial service and potluck at Sabbath Rest Farm attended by over 100 people...a horse with a hoof abcess...and added to the mix, calving season with one young heifer that had to be put down when the twins she was carrying died and she turned septic. Not exactly the equivalent of post crucifixion pre-resurrection angst but close...So now what? I am looking for the holy heartburn in the middle of all my back and forthing. Where has God been while I have been on the road these past weeks?
God has been present in the faces and arms of other people...friends who come when I call or scream for help. They step up, they do the work, they don’t keep score, they listen and love me through without judgement or advice. I am blessed with travel companions on this road.
God has been present in our family... sisters who tend to each other, a son in law who loves his wife and children enough to do some really hard work to change, our children who call and keep in touch, who visit us and seem to enjoy coming home to Sabbath Rest Farm, grandchildren who give us great joy in the midst of life its ownself, farm family who have been family in word and deed.
God has been present in the world around me on the Emmaus road... daffodils blooming in abundance, green grass springing up, Carolina blue skies, pear tree blooms, the sounds of turkeys talking softly to each other in the morning in the woods outside my bedroom window, the hammering of a woodpecker on the dead tree in the woods, the does and their babies standing in silence as I drive by, rabbits scampering through the yard at twilight, blue birds and indigo buntings a flash of blue streaks in the air around me, sunshine and rain, morning and evening.
I am surrounded by God’s presence and I am ever so grateful for holy heartburn that reminds me I am not alone. I am living, breathing and seeing God all around me even in times of trouble. Jesus said, “Lo, I am with you even unto the end of the age.” And so he is.