missing tooth

Saturday morning Grayson had a run in with a metal pole while playing tag on the playground.  The good news is that he was smiling when he collided because his tooth didn't go through his lip.  The bad news was he shattered his front left tooth.  Why do these things always seem to happen on holiday weekends?

We were just getting prepared to send folks out to complete some relief work for victims of Hurricane Irene here in the Upper Valley when I hear crying behind me.  There is Grayson in my friends arms, crying and bloodied.  Now many of my friends and family can attest to a lack in my ability to keep it together in moments like this.  Usually I start by calling out to Jesus frantically and this often has the result of upsetting Gray more than helping the situation.  I don't know if it was all the people around or that I am getting better equipped the older he gets or "that the peace which transcends all understanding was guarding my heart", but for once, I was calm.

We opted to head to the emergency room after I left a message for our dentist.  Just as we were getting ready to head in, he called back and said that he could meet us in an hour to extract the tooth.  We walked and talked as Gray continued to spit blood and fragments of tooth.  We prayed and wondered what the Lord had in store for this day, why had we been pulled away from helping others?

We arrived at the dentist's office and were greeted by his wife, today's dental assistant, and then led back to the special chair.  Grayson was terrific!!  He listened, relaxed, and just trusted.  The tooth was easily extracted and the five pieces were placed in a keepsake box.  Lovely.  We had the opportunity to share with the dentist what our plans had been for the day before we were pulled away.  We had the chance to share about a fund that our church had recently set up to help folks that had lost everything.  We continued to share stories about those who had lost their entire heating supply (cord wood) for the winter as it had been swept down the river.  We shared how our goal was to raise $10,000 in wood the following week and this was where the dentist's face fell a bit and his brow was raised with a significant thought.  Randy asked, "Is everything ok?"  And here was his response:

"I had just said to my wife yesterday how we have to much wood and that we have got to find something to do with it.  We have pallets of extra wood."

So you see, my boy sacrificed his tooth for Jesus on Saturday.  We hadn't realized it at the the moment, but we can easily see that He had even this planned long ago so that families could be warm this winter.  Sometimes it takes more than just hands and feet to do His good work, teeth can be called upon as well.