One More Night With The Frogs

photo credit museum.wa.gov.au 

The rhythmic croaking was strangely melodious.

I would mentally filter out all the other background noise that flowed out of the woods adjacent to our house. The birds, the crickets, all the other sounds would fade away until I could only hear the frogs.

They croaked in a harmonious symphony to a steady rhythmic beat. And I, for some reason, found it peaceful and soothing to my soul.

I would slip out the back door of our little house where I had just relocated us in a new town.

I’m from a small rural town in Tennessee and I married a “city girl” from Nashville. When Becky and I married she made me promise her that I would never move her out of the city and back to my hometown. I did what every prospective groom would do- I promised her I would never move her.

Four years later I moved us back to my hometown and changed careers.

Every night I would quietly sit on the back patio and pray that I had made the right decisions and choices. I would pray over my wife and I would pray over our unborn child. I would search my heart and seek God’s heart about what was going on in my life. I would pour out my worries, my concerns, and my doubts. I would pray for his wisdom and favor over us.

Somehow, the sound of those frogs singing in the background became a powerful, tangible reminder to me of God’s presence.

It would often seem like the breeze would get a little stronger, and the sound of the frogs a little louder as I sought God.

The whole thing reminds me of the great story in the Bible concerning Moses, Pharaoh, and the plague of the frogs.

God wanted to demonstrate his great power and presence to Egypt’s Pharaoh so he sent a massive influx of frogs across the lands of Egypt. There were frogs everywhere! On land, in the water, in their homes, in their clothes- there was no escaping the presence of the frogs.

Which showed there was no escaping the presence of God. He was like the frogs- he was everywhere. Every night when Pharaoh would go to bed, the sound of all those frogs would remind him of God’s great power.

This weekend we will be spending the weekend at Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital with our son. Jon Alex will be hooked up to machines all weekend in the Epilepsy Monitoring Unit as we try to get a better grasp on his seizure activity.

In all transparency, I dread this weekend.

It also happens to be one the busiest times ever for me professionally. Several projects are all colliding at the same time. Deadlines and obligations loom. Decisions need to be made and directions need to be given.

So last night, I prayed over Superman and tucked him into bed. I said goodnight to Wonder Woman as she went off to our bedroom.

Then I quietly slipped out on to our back deck, as I like to do after everyone has gone to bed. It’s been seventeen years since I started doing this, before Jon Alex was ever born. The breeze was stiff and warm and you could tell a thunderstorm lurked nearby.

I poured out my worries and anxieties to God. I prayed for wisdom in all things, and I prayed about our looming weekend in the hospital. I prayed over my family and I prayed for myself as the leader of my family. I ripped my heart open and bared it in front of God.

And then I lowered my head and became still in my chair. I sat in silence before my God and tried to block everything else out of my head.

That’s when I noticed them for the first time.

From the farmland behind our subdivision came that unique, calming sound.

I could hear the frogs. Steady, constant, rhythmic. The frogs chirped.

It was as if God was gently reminding me again of his power and presence. That he is still with me and always will be with me.

One more night with the presence of God guiding, directing, and ordering my life.

One more night with the frogs.

Goodnight Superman. Goodnight Wonder Woman. Goodnight Lord.

All is well.