In my insane, misspent younger days a friend and I were both drunk and we were driving around in a remote rural area trying to find our way to a small town in North Carolina. We’d been hopelessly lost for several hours and then we saw a light on at a house, and decided to stop in and ask directions. It didn’t occur to us that at 2 a.m. in the morning that the occupants might not appreciate, or be receptive to having visitors who were drunk and hopelessly lost.
My buddy walked up on the large wrap around front porch and loudly knocked on the door. Two big burly guys came to the door and my buddy started backing up. The guys came out of the screen door and onto the porch and separated, one to his right and one to the left, and started advancing towards him. As he prepared for the worse, both guys stopped dead in their tracks and then lo and behold they started backing up.
My buddy couldn’t understand it until he turned around and saw me standing there with a crazy leer on my face, and a chrome plated .357 magnum in my hand. It was just what he needed and perfect timing.
A friend of mine who happens to enjoy mountain climbing just e-mailed me from Mendoza Argentina. He was trying to climb Aconcagua, (the highest mountain in the Americas) and developed HAPE (high altitude pulmonary edema). This ailment is common to mountain climbers who live at or near sea level and/or try to climb too fast to properly adjust to the altitude. It can result in severe breathing problems caused by fluid building in the lungs, coughing up blood, coma, and swelling of the brain.
Fortunately he was helicoptered off the mountain and is recovering nicely and in his last report he mentioned that he was resting comfortably eating steaks, smoking Cuban cigars and drinking Malbec wine, (which he should not be doing as alcohol inhibits recovery).
The helicopter was just what he needed and perfect timing.
God often directly intervenes in our lives. Sometimes He does so as an answer to a prayer and other times because he is just looking out for His foolish children. While some believe that God is just way too busy to even notice them, they are mistaken and there is Scripture galore that refutes that position.
In my own life I have experienced many miracles that can only be attributed to God answering prayer, or God just looking out for this rebellious fool on His own out of sheer compassion. I recount many of these hairy, (near death) situations in my autobiography, Miracle on Luckie Street. In fact my mountain climber friend and I had a friendly joust about just that subject when, upon hearing of his dangerous mishap, I wrote, “Dang son, calm down, you ain’t invincible!”
He responded, “Woo hoo – there’s the pot calling the kettle black!”
At any rate I have complete faith in God. I live and die by His promises in the Bible and if anyone has strong faith, it is me. I’ve seen first-hand what God can do. Thus when I pray I expect an answer. I realize that sometimes His answer is going to be “not now”, or “no”, but the Bible guarantees that God hears (all) prayers, and He answers “yes” more often than not. When He answers I acknowledge it and thank Him regardless if I received the answer that I thought I needed or not.
Regarding our ministry and grand opening of the church, my overriding prayer, (aside from raising the finances needed to conduct a worldwide ministry), has been that God will provide the people with the know how to handle the technical aspects of recording our services, editing them, and streaming them all over the world. I know next to nothing about that subject and prayed intensely about it. And then lo and behold within a couple of days three men appeared on the scene who intimately know this subject backwards and forward. They all have a heart for doing the Lord’s work and are already hard at work solving this problem.
Yikes!
Even though I expect God to answer my prayers and assist with the things that I want to accomplish on His behalf that are within His will for my life, I still get REALLY excited when it happens right before my eyes. I’d never met any of them and still haven’t met one in person and yet they just started showing up.
I wrote them and said, “You guys are a specific answer to an intense prayer of mine whereby I asked for help in this area. You just showed up right on schedule. Kind of makes the hair stand up on my neck. God works in mighty ways and you guys are part of His plan for this ministry. I feel honored He has chosen me and hope you do as well. Thanks for your faithfulness…”
He wrote me back, “Indeed He does. I’m having hairs on the back of my neck raise actually because the funny thing is this opportunity to help was also in direct answer to prayers of my own about where I’m supposed to contribute next to spreading the good news. Never really thought about God as a switchboard or clearinghouse, but if he’s matching us sinners up so we can serve His will, I’m fine with however He chooses to do it.”
God loves the fools and faithful. He created us all to accomplish His great purpose. I often think of my life as a book. One chapter is not an entire book. If you get discouraged for example because you are in financial difficulty, perhaps that is chapter 7 or 11, but it isn’t the last chapter because the book is still being written. In other words it’s not the end of the world. Just keep trudging on, praying, and trusting God.
God is smiling on this ministry project, the pieces are falling together, and this ministry is getting wings and will be soaring like an eagle before long. My buddy did not reach the summit of Aconcagua. Judging from what he told me, when his wife gets down there to visit him as he recovers, he is going to get an earful and in fact he may never reach the summit of that particular peak anytime in the near future; however that does not preclude his attaining the summit of other peaks in his life.
So I suppose the bottom line is that instead of wailing and wringing our hands and crying about every bump in the road, (even if it’s a huge sinkhole), we should trust in God and have faith that He will deliver us. He loves us and we are very valuable to Him. We were bought with His only Son’s precious blood and He has plenty of resources to restore us and/or provide the things we need.
PRAY! And have faith, (trust Him), that He will answer in due time. Stop squalling about it already. Be still and wait on the Lord. And when He delivers, thank Him.
Selah… Stop and rest here – meditate…
Now breathe…
Psalm 46:10
“Be still, and know that I am God…”