Tails
Today was excruciating! We left our humble suburb home a little after eight, running a little behind what I had initially planned, on our way to my grandma's funeral visitation about 5 1/2 hours away. Grabbed some non-nutritional breakfast at McDonalds and coffee before we hit the highway. Not ten minutes of being on the road and my husband and I are arguing about the tone we are each taking with each other and an incident that happened with the kids the night before.
About a half and hour of blacktop later, our van starts blinking it's dashboard at me. All the lights on the dash are flashing off and on. Now, we had our van completely "fixed" once and not two days later the check engine light came on. So, naturally we went to and auto zone to have them read the "health meter" for our van. The guy said there was nothing to worry about, it's just overly sensitive. Buying into that, I kept driving it - almost a year I'd say - and it drove fine. As time went on, another light came on. I looked that one up in our manual and found it was something about our traction. It being in the dead of summer, I didn't think anything about it. All that being said, within the last several weeks our dashboard has been informing us that all of the van doors are ajar (when they are in fact not) and our battery light and brake light are also in on this vendetta. So, I shrugged it off as a pesky quirk. I knew this one was probably a little more important, but it only happened every so often.
Anyhow, here we are on this excursion to the bordering state and the lights are acting out again. Although this time they are staying on.... and taking the speedometer, mph gauge, temperature, and gas needles all down with them. If they were sinking, dog-gone-it the whole thing was coming with it. I noticed that it only had a tantrum when I stepped on the gas. When I let up on it and coasted, it behaved. Some more time down the road, and they all went dead on me, and they didn't make a come back. I had no idea how fast I was going, or if the car was overheating, or if we were running low on gas. Needless to say, I finally got concerned. I called our local mechanic from our hometown, now almost an hour away, to ask him if he could diagnose the problem. "Sounds like your alternator, you should definitely get off the road soon, but don't turn the car off." I'm sure he gave me more information than that, but I am a girl (and yes, I'm pulling that card), and all I heard was "Bad, serious, better have this one checked out."
So, after that news we attempt to assess the situation. Coming up on a city with s few relatives who reside there, we call in back-up. We don't get a hold of anyone, so under my breath, I start praying that God would get us safety off the interstate and get help to fix our poor child-like van. Well, we got off at the next exit with a gas station. As we are passing the pumps to head for a parking spot, the car flat out dies and the power steering goes out. We coasted nicely into an open parking spot. God answered our prayers!
We got a call back from his uncle, who was in the middle of a retreat that he was leading. Blessedly enough, Uncle Joe knew a guy! He said that he was a "bit of a mechanic" ..........To Be Continued..
Saturday, November 2, 2013
Wednesday, October 16, 2013
Uncomfortable?
Today, I was sitting in church listening to our minister preach a very good sermon in the dark. (His series this month is "Are you afraid of the dark?" All the lights were out as he started into his sermon. I thought at first that there must have been some sort of outage somewhere. However, the lights from the amps on stage were still lit. What was going on? (All of this can be thought before the blink of an eye in a woman's mind). He began talking about how some people were uncomfortable being in the dark. Then, God took a hold of my mind and RAN.
Uncomfortable? He asked me. When was the last time you were uncomfortable with me? When was the last time you purposely got uncomfortable FOR me? There is a reason that we get uncomfortable in certain situations that God calls us to. He is able to get ALL the glory.
I was chewing on that a bit and thought of a illustration that could be used to get everyone "uncomfortable." A jack! (Like with marbles) If we were to walk in to church and there was a jack on everyone's chair, how many of us would move that jack before we sat down? ALL OF US! No one wants to be uncomfortable. Not if we can help it! However, if you look back on some of the Old Testament stories, you'll find several examples of God asking someone to get uncomfortable with Him.
When God asked Noah to build an ark, it had never rained. Think about that one for a while. People didn't even know what rain was! Noah probably looked off his rocker to everyone around him. Abraham was uncomfortable when he had to tell Isaac to come offer a sacrifice to God with him.... with no lamb.
Proverbs 3:5 says, "Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding."
You see, in those moments we have to have faith in God and trust that He knows what He is doing. No, it may not make sense to us at the time, but to Him - He gets the glory. He gets the respect and honor due Him from His child, who had faith in their Father. We all get to step back and go "Wow! That could have only been God!"
When was the last time you were uncomfortable with God? When was the last time He called you to be uncomfortable FOR Him?
Uncomfortable? He asked me. When was the last time you were uncomfortable with me? When was the last time you purposely got uncomfortable FOR me? There is a reason that we get uncomfortable in certain situations that God calls us to. He is able to get ALL the glory.
I was chewing on that a bit and thought of a illustration that could be used to get everyone "uncomfortable." A jack! (Like with marbles) If we were to walk in to church and there was a jack on everyone's chair, how many of us would move that jack before we sat down? ALL OF US! No one wants to be uncomfortable. Not if we can help it! However, if you look back on some of the Old Testament stories, you'll find several examples of God asking someone to get uncomfortable with Him.
When God asked Noah to build an ark, it had never rained. Think about that one for a while. People didn't even know what rain was! Noah probably looked off his rocker to everyone around him. Abraham was uncomfortable when he had to tell Isaac to come offer a sacrifice to God with him.... with no lamb.
Proverbs 3:5 says, "Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding."
You see, in those moments we have to have faith in God and trust that He knows what He is doing. No, it may not make sense to us at the time, but to Him - He gets the glory. He gets the respect and honor due Him from His child, who had faith in their Father. We all get to step back and go "Wow! That could have only been God!"
When was the last time you were uncomfortable with God? When was the last time He called you to be uncomfortable FOR Him?
Saturday, September 28, 2013
That Look; the look that screams
"One bright morning, when this day is o'er, I'll fly away....."
Random tunes run through my head often. This morning it was this one. I walked out the front door, coffee cup in hand, and the thorn in my side -my cigarette- in the other. The sun was peeking over the tops of the trees as I looked around and puffed. Breaking the peaceful sounds of chirping birds and cicadas, a car with a coughing muffler came barreling down our street. Normally, when I hear that sound, I make some sort of humorous comment like, "someone should put that car out of it's misery." Today, however, before I could gather my thoughts, I caught that look out of a child in the back seat.
That look struck a chord with me, all too familiar. It wasn't a casual look that a kid would give another adult, like a joyful casual smile. It was a deep look that came with a meaning and purpose; a look with a plea that should never be presented on a kid. That look that silently screams SOS to anyone who can see, hear, and interpret. My heart fell to the pit of my stomach, as all I could offer was a concerned "I hear you" response on my face. However, the moment passed so quickly as the poor car with a cough turned the corner out of my neighborhood. I was left on my porch, unable to help that child physically. All I could do was pray.
That look threw me back into the past of when I too gave out that look, hoping and praying someone would hear my look with a plea. Being forced to grow up fast, that look was all over my face in some situations I had been in. That look is too weighted for any child to be passing out, groveling for someone responsible to answer that call.
There was no opportunity to answer that look with gumption. That poor child. God heard the call, though. He heard the call before it was made. My mind was put at ease with that not-so-random now song. I'll Fly Away. Hope resounds in those words. God responds to that look.
Random tunes run through my head often. This morning it was this one. I walked out the front door, coffee cup in hand, and the thorn in my side -my cigarette- in the other. The sun was peeking over the tops of the trees as I looked around and puffed. Breaking the peaceful sounds of chirping birds and cicadas, a car with a coughing muffler came barreling down our street. Normally, when I hear that sound, I make some sort of humorous comment like, "someone should put that car out of it's misery." Today, however, before I could gather my thoughts, I caught that look out of a child in the back seat.
That look struck a chord with me, all too familiar. It wasn't a casual look that a kid would give another adult, like a joyful casual smile. It was a deep look that came with a meaning and purpose; a look with a plea that should never be presented on a kid. That look that silently screams SOS to anyone who can see, hear, and interpret. My heart fell to the pit of my stomach, as all I could offer was a concerned "I hear you" response on my face. However, the moment passed so quickly as the poor car with a cough turned the corner out of my neighborhood. I was left on my porch, unable to help that child physically. All I could do was pray.
That look threw me back into the past of when I too gave out that look, hoping and praying someone would hear my look with a plea. Being forced to grow up fast, that look was all over my face in some situations I had been in. That look is too weighted for any child to be passing out, groveling for someone responsible to answer that call.
There was no opportunity to answer that look with gumption. That poor child. God heard the call, though. He heard the call before it was made. My mind was put at ease with that not-so-random now song. I'll Fly Away. Hope resounds in those words. God responds to that look.
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