Bees, Benadryl, And Bible Study

I was on my way to Bible study last night when I stopped to run an errand on the way. I left the windows of my car down, was gone about two minutes, and returned to my car to continue my drive to the church. As soon as I sat down, I immediately knew something was out of sorts. I had that "weird, something is not right" kind of feeling. I grabbed my cell phone, as I thought that maybe something had happened to someone I know. Nope, no messages and no missed calls. Something was way off, but I couldn't put my finger on it. I remember thinking that I felt panicked, but there was no reason for me to feel so. And then I felt the pain in my back.

All of the sudden, I realized that I wasn't feeling well and my back was hurting. In fact, my back was burning with pain. It felt like someone was burning me with something hot. I continued to drive to the church, when it got so bad and I finally realized that I was being bitten or stung by something. I looked down and there was a BIG, black, hairy, bee on my shirt between me and the car seat. I realized that I'd been stung.

I managed to pull the car off the road while screaming, swatting, and swerving to miss the other cars on the road. As I sat in the seat waiting for the cars behind me to pass so I could open my door to get out, I was in a full blown panic. There in my car was a big hairy critter who was obviously fearless, and I figured he was planning on stinging me again. But I remembered that bees can't sting twice. Or so I thought.

I thought the bee had flown away, so I got back into the car and sped the last 50 yards to the church parking lot. I wanted out of my car, and I wanted to be around other people in case I had a reaction to the sting. Once about 10 years ago, I was stung by a wasp and my heart started beating too fast, so I didn't want to experience the same thing and be alone.

At the church, I was going to have someone check my car to make sure that the bee was in fact gone before going to Walgreens to get some Benadryl. And to my surprise, I got stung again while walking with an individual to look for some Benadryl on site. How in the??? I was being stung under my blouse! As soon as the bee stung my stomach, I immediately thought of my options. I could keep getting stung, I could lift my shirt up and hope it flew out, or I could take the shirt off.

I didn't want to be remembered forever as the woman who ditched her shirt in church. I don't care if it would've been in flames. I was keeping it on. So, I opted to shake it out and hope not to get stung again. Sure enough, it flew out. I don't really remember, but I think a guy stomped on it. Forever my hero, lol! That bee had stung it's last time!

Another friend pulled in the parking lot as I was about to leave to head to Walgreens, and thankfully she drove me over to the store. It gave us a chance to talk and laugh over my being a bee sting victim, and a chance to attend Bible study together. We got there late, but we got there.

As I thought about it as I laid in a Benadryl induced daze and sleepiness, I realized that I could see a lesson in this whole bee drama. After several conversations about people seeming ok on the surface, but hiding pain, hurts, and life crisis' underneath it all, it became apparent when I got stung by the bee that it is all too easy to do.

I could have gone into the church and pretended that nothing was wrong, when I really wanted someone to check my car to make sure it was bee free for me to drive to the store. No one would've seen my sting, and known that I was scared. (Ok, so I was terrified of the "Boogey-bee" (boogey man) hiding in my car!)

I could've driven my car to the store to seek help alone by pretending I wasn't too shaken up to do so. I could put on a poker face. (Ante up, you bee you!)

I could have avoided the church altogether in fear of what people would think in the first place. So, it was only a bee sting. Two bee stings. Big deal. To who? It's huge to me! Everyone reacts to crisis differently as do the body's natural defenses. You should see my stomach today. I honestly have not seen anything like this before. It's bad!

We never know how each of us will react until we actually go through or have been through similar circumstances. Regardless of whether we have or haven't experienced the same things, we can still be there to pull each other through in prayer and in our actions. The biggest lesson I learned is that we have to open our mouths to let people know what we've been stung by. They might not have the antidote we need to survive, but they might be able to get us to someone who does.

Don't be afraid to speak your needs to your brothers and sisters in Christ. We CAN do more than just pray for each other! I "BEE"LIEVE that!