"For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark wold and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." (Eph. 6:12) How true this is proving! In the last 3 days, I feel that the "evil one" is doing his best to distract me from the mission ahead. It started with a phone call from my daughter on Sunday night that she was sick, which resulted in me making a late run trip to the pharmacy for medicine for her. Then, the next day, she was worse, which ended up with us taking her to Urgent Care late at night and another trip to the Pharmacy (thank goodness CVS is open 24 hrs!). Side note: incidentally, she has a severe case of strep throat - so bad that the nurse said she's never seen a throat like that on an adult and hasn't seen one that bad in over a year! Back to the point: Today, our dog, who is known to be an escape artist, darted out the front door when I opened it for the repairman. She's made mad dashes before, but never for as long or as far as today. After a futile attempt at searching for her, I called Steve and he came home to help search. He finally found her at the neighbors across the road and they had kindly put her on a chain, not knowing who she belonged to. Normally, these incidents would seem benign and "ordinary",  except for the matter of the timing: my leaving in 2 more days. Who ever heard of strep in June - and for it to be as severe as it was in just a few days! And what about the dog?! She's never been gone that long, and certainly has never crossed the road before! But, I know that God is in control and I know that "greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world". Praise the Lord, because He will be my sanity in the coming days.