First, let me go on record...I do NOT own a ferret....nor do I desire to own one. Yes, they're cute with their little twitchy noses looking up at you and I imagine there's nothing like having them crawl all over you. Ah - I can just feel it - the claws digging in just a bit through a t-shirt. AHHHHHHHh......now THAT'S fun!

However, my sister and her roommate breed ferrets and show them. They have many champion ferrets and others on their way. It's a whole different subculture, THAT'S for sure!

This past Saturday they were in town from PA for the big Buckeye Ferret Show. We started going a few years ago when they first came to it and now it's an annual event in late August. It's a great opp to see my sister and for Mom & my bro to see them, too. And they come over for dinner on Friday night when they hit town.

So here I was sitting at their table late in the day Friday as things were winding down. I'm just sitting there minding my own business when suddenly this woman sits down in the chair next to me. She put her arm around me which quickly gained my attention. Now this community is a fun-loving social group so it wasn't out of the norm. She was a bit shorter than I was and full of energy. She had been the announcer all day.

"Sue Bowles?" she said with a curious look on her face as if to say 'I know something you don't know and I'm loving this.'

"Yes..." (I thought she was going to tell me I had won something - that someone had pointed me out to her).

"Do you know who I am?" (not really - only that this stranger is putting her arm around me and knows my name.....I'm wondering what's coming next)

"No..."

She flashes her name tag which says Lara.

"Lara McElwee!'

'NO WAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!'' I exclaim rather loudly as my family & friends look at me trying to figure out what on earth is going on.

We hugged and laughed and stood in amazement at meeting up after almost 15-16 years at a Ferret Show!

Lara was one of my RAs (Resident Assistants) at Ohio Wesleyan when I worked there in the early 90s. She was one of those staff members that you just really hit it off with. We'd sit & just talk - not about work or her floor or anything - but about life. We'd joke and laugh and she gave me much energy. She's one of those people that you always 'wonder what they're doing now.' Now I know!

It was a wonderful reunion and my family saw a small snapshot of a chapter of my life they perhaps hadn't seen. And Lara shared with them how I influenced her which was very humbling...how she tried to model her first job as a Residence Hall Director from things she saw me doing. How humbling. How encouraging.

Turns out she just lives west of Columbus - about 45 minutes away - so we're going to meet up in west Columbus for coffee & catching up sometime (hopefully soon).

It was a walk down memory lane and was so much fun! She gave me energy. I told her the pastel colored 'jams' (funny colored comfortable casual pants) she gave me as her 'Senior Will' are still worn & one of my favorite pairs of pants (her sorority had a Senior Will where they gave something away to someone - I was the recipient). She said she was glad to hear that.

So beware...you never know what surprises await you as you go about your day. You may just have a part of your past cross your path and God may give you a chance to actually see and hear how He's used you in someone else's life. He's like that -  He likes to surprise His kids and let them know He hears the secret questions of the heart.

People often say 'work stinks.' They're probably expressing frustration or dissatisfaction with something. But Friday morning that phrase took on a whole new meaning. Work stunk. LITERALLY!

When we walked in the door Friday morning we could immediately smell it in the foyer...something smelled like melting plastic. I asked the Controller (the first office inside the door) what smelled. He matter-of-factly said 'we had a fire last night.' Then he told me what happened and said 'we're very fortunate. The whole place could've gone up.'

I work at a wholesale distributor for entry doors, so in the back are thousands of steel and fiberglass door slabs, all kinds of prefinish material (paint and stain), and a boatload of wood products to make the door jambs. Maybe 1 or 2 things that could be considered flammable.

The day before (Thursday) the guys in back had 46 steel doors to cut down. The scrap from the cut downs are placed in a big dumpster next to the cutdown machine. So is the sawdust and other shop scrap. The steel scraps were still hot and about 6:30pm Thursday night they started the sawdust smoldering. Based on the security cameras it smoked a while and then you see this huge flashpot. This was one of the large dumpsters you see at construction sites and it was flaming the entire width and higher than the top of the dumpster. It looked like a huge bonfire! Because it was zero degrees outside and our alarm system is a heat detector, no alarms sounded. It burned out without sparking anything else. When the managers got in around 6:30am on Friday the entire warehouse was filled with smoke and it was smokey even up in the office area. The fire was in the BACK warehouse so it had to travel a considerable distance - through a walkway and another smaller inventory warehouse to get to the office area. It wreaked!

They had all the loading dock bays and any other exterior door or bay open to air the place out (production gets in an hour after the managers got there). They basically froze out Production for an hour. Even in the office we had the smoke feeling in our throats and had small headaches. I was going to eat lunch upstairs but went out for some fresh air - man, did I feel the difference! How the guys in back made it through the day I still don't know, other than they said 'you get used to it.' We all have a greater appreciation for firefighters!

It was an obvious opportunity to simply say 'Someone is looking out for us.' I told the President I was thankful for the protection & would continue to pray that God protects the Company.' He simply wrote back  'Thanks, Sue.'

We are thankful for His hand of protection. People said 'we were very fortunate.' I simply responded 'Someone was watching out for us.' It's a chance to plant seeds. May He bring the water to cause the growth.