How many of us shoot up little prayers to Jesus all during the day, especially when we're in crisis? "Oh, Jesus, fix the copy machine!!! Unjam it for me!!! I need that presentation!!!" "Oh, God, why do they have to make fruit displays at the grocery store so much like an open game of Jenga??!!" "Oh, sweet Lord, why are the lines in the grocery store SOOOOO long? Puh-LEEEEAASE open another register?!?" Do we actually expect God to answer these seemingly selfish requests? Does the Lord God Omnipotent, All Knowing, All Powerful, Alpha and Omega, Lion of Judah really care if you pop gets stuck in the machine and you used up the last of your change and you've been having a cruddy day and all you want is a pick-me-up?
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| Celena in Mercede's House |
The other day Rodney and I decided to go visit Mercedes up in the Mangos. She has been coming to our church for the past few months and we wanted to go up and share a bit with her. She lives in a group of houses that are all tacked on to each other just off the main road in the Mangos that leads to where the landslide happened (that's how we give directions here). To get to her house you have to walk up these narrow, uneven steps that are slippery when wet. Of course it was raining. When we walked into her house, her youngest daughter, Paola, (who is 18) was sitting on a stool next to the TV holding a still-plugged-in-DVD player in her lap, frantically shaking it as if it were a morocco. Her face was one of mild panic. As Mercedes invited us to sit, I asked Paola what she was doing. Her DVD had been sucked into the mysterious unknown in the DVD player, had become wedged in, and she was desperately trying to get it out. I nonchalantly asked for a screwdriver. While Paola's younger niece, Celena, went to go find one, I calmly unplugged the unit and sat down on the couch. Unscrewing the five screws, I took off the top piece and presto, pulled out the offending disc, handing it back to her. Rodney suggested I show her where and how to put the screws back in in case it ever happened again. So I helped her put it back together. All her stress melted away and she completely relaxed. We continued our conversation with Mercedes and the rest of the girls in her house.
Rodney asked Mercedes why she thought we were here, and why she liked coming to our church. "For this," she said, "to do God's work and answer prayers. When you walked in just at that moment, that was God. You answered Paola's prayer. She was just saying "Oh, God, help me get my DVD out!!!" And in you walked.
What a humbling moment. How many times in life do we notice someone in need, but walk by? How often do we see someone with frustration, panic, or distress on their face and just let them figure it out so as not to get involved? Some times when we notice what's going on, in reality it is the Holy Spirit causing us to notice so God can use US to be the answer to their cry for help. He uses US to show HIS love to a frustrated, distressed, upset world. He uses US to tell the world that YES, the Lord God Omnipotent, All Knowing, All Powerful, Alpha and Omega, Lion of Judah really cares about each and every moment of our lives.
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