As some of you may know, I’ve been out of circulation lately. First was the dog’s surgery. As she ameliorated post-op, she became more and more difficult to control; she didn’t want to be cooped into her cage all of the time. It was a full-time, hands-on ordeal as she became increasingly petulant.

Well, that all pales in comparison with my weekend. We received a call late Saturday that my brother-in-law was seriously injured and that his injuries were life threatening. From that moment until now, it’s been a whirlwind of totally sleepless nights and multiple 3-hour trips to the hospital.

The one positive in all of the mayhem was the overwhelming sense of family that arose. My parents drove to the interstate in the middle of the night to pick up Sunny and cared for her until today (remember, she’s being whiny and needy). My sister offered her prayers and asked multiple times to help; her husband offered to drive us the three hours to the hospital if we were too tired. My brother- not the person with whom I usually discuss spirituality- prayed for my brother-in-law, a guy he’s met only a handful of times. My husband’s family dropped everything to be with him; his father’s assistant pastor even made the long trip to the trauma center.

With a head full of staples and a piece of his skull detached, my brother-in-law is going to be OK. I helped him walk through the hospital corridors tonight and he was more talkative than I’ve ever heard him. If it weren’t for the stress of it all, I would dare say we had fun! I love him dearly and I haven’t been shy about telling him.

I am not big on petition style prayers. I pray thankful prayers and hopeful prayers, but don’t feel like I deserve to be heard when there are so many other people who need so much more. I broke down and petitioned God this weekend. It felt odd to open that kind of dialogue. But it didn’t feel wrong.

Lots of people live who deserve death, and many die who deserve life. I don’t know if God grants our wishful prayers or if what we pray just happens to coincide with chance, fate, or the master plan, or whatever, but I feel thankful to have my brother-in-law still in my life in this world.

So if you pray, pray thanksgiving that he’s going to be OK, and I’ll be praying that he has a positive outlook on this second chance. Thanks for listening, God.