He was Everywhere

He was everywhere. My husband, that is.

If I went grocery shopping at Brookshire Brothers, he would find me there.

If I went visiting my sister outside of town, he’d drive down the driveway to say hello.

If I went boot shopping at Buck Ferguson’s on the Square, he’d show up there, too, before I had time to buy too much!

Wherever I went, he’d be there sooner or later. Grinning, Ian-style. Lovin’ his life.

He wasn’t following me in his car, stalker-like, he just always seemed to know where I was. Weird. Bizarre, really.  

But he was Ian, and he did stuff like that. All I had to do was look up, and eventually, he’d happily stroll into sight, expecting me to be happy to see him. .

We live in a small town. I wasn’t hard to find. He knew my ways, my habits, my hobbies, my friends. I never thought about it too much, but I’d joke, “Here comes Ian!” And then I’d go about my business, expecting him to show up if he wasn’t showing property. (He does work!)   

And then I made a discovery:  my I-phone’s Find-A-Friend!

I didn’t know he had implemented it. Never questioned his unique Ian-like ability to appear wherever I was. Ha! Wasn’t he the clever guy?

Shortly after my discovery, I got mad at him about something so irrelevant I can’t even remember what it was, but Find-a-Friend and I were buddies by then, so I grabbed his phone and un-friended my phone number. Ha! I’d show him. That’d drive him nuts.

Which it did.

Shortly after, my phone beeped with a request from Find-A-Friend to share my location with Ian!

Which I did.

For I realized that I actually liked knowing he could find me. I liked knowing that if I needed him for any reason at all – serious or frivolous – he knew where I was. It made me feel safe. The knowing, that is.

My sister had a flat tire on her car the other night. She's not on Ian's Find-A-Friend, but she found him nevertheless, and we were able to find her, too, and help change the tire. Well, Ian changed it anyway. It was a dark night. Late. Quite frightening for a woman alone in the country and not a soul in sight.

Yep, I'm glad Ian can find me. You never know.

King David knew that God knew him and knew everything about him, and in Psalm 139, he said: 

¹ You have searched me, Lord,
    and you know me.
² You know when I sit and when I rise;
    you perceive my thoughts from afar.
³ You discern my going out and my lying down;
    you are familiar with all my ways.
⁴ Before a word is on my tongue
    you, Lord, know it completely.
⁵ You hem me in behind and before,
    and you lay your hand upon me.
⁶ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
    too lofty for me to attain.

⁷ Where can I go from your Spirit?
    Where can I flee from your presence?

And the answer is, of course, nowhere at all.

Thank you, God, for being the ultimate Find-a-Friend. Omnipresent. Omniscient. Omnipotent. Always and forever.  Amen.