The Steps of a Good Man ...

There are eighteen steps from our guest suite to the ground floor.

 He missed a step at the turn and fell down several steps two nights ago as we were heading out for that evening's engagement. He tumbled like a rag doll and landed at my feet a few steps from the bottom. My legs had broken his fall a little, as had his grasping at a thin pipe on the wall.

I started to scream; I couldn't help it. I didn't know what to do - if he had broken anything and I moved him, it could compound the pain and the injury. But I couldn't just leave him there.

He was struggling to get up so I reached down and held his arm and helped him to his feet. We walked slowly together down the remaining couple of steps  and out to the waiting car. When I saw Debs, who had gone ahead, I burst into tears. He tried to comfort me: "I'm so sorry I frightened you, Karyn," he reiterated gently.

She went into nurse mode, asking him the right questions, evaluating him. He was shaken but physically seemed to be okay, with no broken bones.

That night he slept deeply and the next day he slept and rested for much of the day. Fortunately we had not scheduled much until the evening and so he could take it easy.

The sum total of his injuries was a bruised and slightly scraped elbow; a small bruise at the base of his spine; and stiffness and soreness of his back and hips.

Nothing had broken; not even his skin, which is so fragile these days that a severe bump can split it open and cause copious bleeding.

The piece of plastic pipe covering that broke off
as Dad grabbed onto it

I keep imagining what could have happened, how much worse it could have been. If there had not been a railing on the stairs he could have slid right through them and landed on the ground below. If he had flipped over he could have smashed his face and his glasses and re-broken his previously fractured collar bone. He could have gone into shock and stopped breathing.

But none of this happened.

And the thought that came to me is this, from Psalm number 37:

The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord

and He delights in his way

My Dad is a good man - one of the best. God Himself was on the steps with my Dad that evening.

Debs and I have been hovering around Dad a little bit more than usual the last couple of days. So have Raj, Arenla, Ed, Mr Subbaiah, Jeremiah and Annie. We don't want to leave him alone for a second. 

Then I was reminded that God is always with Dad. Each of them delights in the other. God is in control of his way and will guide and protect his steps.