As I read it, it made me think about how much practice we can get learning to praise God even in the midst of the problems and trials of life. Even when those trials keep pouring in one after the other, seemingly without end. In this true-life account, God taught me a few lessons about praise in the midst of problems. What did He use to tech the lesson? He used a couple temperamental cars.. Here is the story as it was told in May 2007.
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Have you ever had one of those
days? Well, I have. It would more accurate to say that I have had
one of those weeks…nearly two to be precise.
There is nothing overtly spiritual about things I want to share with you,
but God has been using the mundane, frustrating events surrounding the problems
of an old car to teach me a thing or two about praising Him in the midst of
problems. I hope you will indulge me as
I share the story.
For starters, two weekends ago,
my car would not start when I tried to leave for church both Sunday morning and
evening (problem). Kind neighbors
push-started it (praise). The same thing
happened three times on Monday, the final time happening as I was on my way to
take the car in for repairs (problem).
The service station sent someone out to help me on the side of the road
and got the car running enough to make it to the station (praise). Rachel, at age 19 months, was with me through all
this, and she handled a couple hours of waiting with great patience and humor
(PRAISE!!!)
On
Wednesday morning, I still had problems with the electrical system (problem). I
took it in to a local service station.
They fixed the immediate problem and even dropped my car off at my house
for me (praise). It became obvious
Thursday morning that something else was wrong, this time not with the
electrical system (problem). The service
station went to work again and replaced a worn-out oil pump (praise).
Sunday morning, the car started beautifully. I headed into the city for church. A police officer held up traffic on a main
road to let me enter from a side road.
Unfortunately, a young man on a motorbike didn’t see the officer’s signal
to stop. He ran into my front bumper
(Problem). Thankfully, neither my car nor
his bike were damaged and no one was injured (Praise!) Before church, I stopped at an ATM
machine. When I turned the key, the car wouldn’t
start…again (Problem). Thankfully, it
was only a short distance to church, and taxis were plentiful (Praise).
After the service, Rachel and I ate
some lunch, and I got some help to try and push-start the car. It was no use. The car simply wouldn’t start (Problem). One man called a company that provides
emergency roadside assistance (Praise). Help came and the mechanic got the car
going again (Praise). I decided I ought to
take the car to a service station yet again that specialized in my model of car. Unfortunately, that place was all the way across
town and I was running very low on gas (Problem). I didn’t have the nerve to risk shutting off
the engine to fill up the tank, so I just headed straight to the service
station to drop off the car. We made it
without running out of gas (Praise)! We took a taxi back to where we were
spending the night. We were halfway
there when I realized that the key for the house was still on the key ring I
left with the car (Problem). Thankfully,
we were only halfway to the house instead of right at the gate (Praise).
Monday afternoon, I was told that
the needed repairs would take a few days.
I rented a car on Tuesday. On
Thursday, I ran some errands in the rental car and had already made a couple
stops. When I turned the key for what
was supposed to be the final time that day…you guessed it…the rental car
wouldn’t start. Dead battery, of
course…what else would it be? (PROBLEM).
I called the rental company, and they agreed to send someone out to help
me (Praise). I told them I would try to
get the
car push-started so I could at least get it home and wait there. Thankfully, this all happened near the
children’s home. Several of the older boys and a man on staff push-started the
car (Praise). It ran just until the end
of the street when it died again (Problem).
Several men I didn’t even know pushed it around the corner and I parked
at the side of the road. One young man
saw me walking tiredly back toward the children’s home…a long uphill walk. He offered to give me a
ride home on his motorbike (Praise).
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Finally, about noon on Friday, the mechanic from the
city drove my newly repaired car to my town, got the rental running, and took
it back to the city. He even went to bat
for me with the rental company and insisted that I only be charged for two days
rental of the car, not three (PRAISE!).
All-in-all, it has been an “educational” couple weeks…not so much in
terms of “kingdom work”, but in terms of seeing God’s hand at work and learning
to praise Him when the natural tendency would be to grumble and complain. Hmmmmm.
You know, I guess that actually IS a part of kingdom work, after all.
In everything give thanks… 1 Thessalonians 5:18
That's one way for Him to teach patience, trust, and at the same time giving others a chance to step up and help another! It's great to be able to help others BUT being in a place to BE helped is humbling. That's a lesson all on its own : )
ReplyDeleteYes, it is humbling to be in the position of needing help rather than give it. My car certainly gave me ample lessons in being humble.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad that wasn't me. I might have taken a tire iron to either my car or the rental. But I have grace for other things. God knows what we can handle. I think.
ReplyDeleteI must admit to pounding the steering-wheel a few times, but after awhile, it went beyond frustrating to just simply ridiculous...and I had to laugh instead. If I didn't, I might have cried.
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