God & Gasoline
It happened on the outskirts of Lamesa. That dreaded moment when you realize that had you planned better, things would have went smoother. But I hadn't planned for this. I was too busy focusing on getting my family home from the Children's hospital in Lubbock.
Prior to this dreaded moment, my wife had taken the kids on a field trip to a dairy about 2 hours outside of town, near Lubbock. She called me later that morning, because our daughter had a strange rash & had passed out at dairy. They took her to the Children's hospital and the doctors believed she had a virus and it would go away on its own. Naturally, I jumped into the truck and drove the 2 hours to meet them in the hospital.
Exhausted mentally from the unexpected trip, I had forgotten to put gas in the truck on the way back and now there was an ominous yellow light burning a whole in my retina, mocking me with a constant message that I was indeed out of gas.
The next gas station was 40 miles away.
So I began to think in 3's at that point. If we ended up 20 minutes outside of town, that would set us back an hour:
20 mins to gas station + 20 mins back to the car + 20 minutes into town = 60 minutes of tired children, a screaming toddler, & a exhausted wife.
The littlest of set backs at this point would have sent us over the edge. So, we prayed. And as we pulled into the gas station with the ominous yellow light, I was very grateful that God had intervened. The funny thing is that I had every ounce in confidence that He would. There was no guessing or hoping. I just understood that He would take care of this problem, that we needed Him, and my faith was strong in this decision. I would have been more shocked if He chose not to intervene.
As I thought about this confidence, it opened my eyes up to a whole new world of prayer options. Why am I not this desperate/confident in other aspects of my life? Think about how much more radical of a father, husband, co-worker, friend, etc. I could be if I exerted the same amount of faith in His leadership in my life. While I walked away grateful for the gas, I also walked away convicted.
And perhaps that is what He intended all along.
Prior to this dreaded moment, my wife had taken the kids on a field trip to a dairy about 2 hours outside of town, near Lubbock. She called me later that morning, because our daughter had a strange rash & had passed out at dairy. They took her to the Children's hospital and the doctors believed she had a virus and it would go away on its own. Naturally, I jumped into the truck and drove the 2 hours to meet them in the hospital.
Exhausted mentally from the unexpected trip, I had forgotten to put gas in the truck on the way back and now there was an ominous yellow light burning a whole in my retina, mocking me with a constant message that I was indeed out of gas.
The next gas station was 40 miles away.
So I began to think in 3's at that point. If we ended up 20 minutes outside of town, that would set us back an hour:
20 mins to gas station + 20 mins back to the car + 20 minutes into town = 60 minutes of tired children, a screaming toddler, & a exhausted wife.
The littlest of set backs at this point would have sent us over the edge. So, we prayed. And as we pulled into the gas station with the ominous yellow light, I was very grateful that God had intervened. The funny thing is that I had every ounce in confidence that He would. There was no guessing or hoping. I just understood that He would take care of this problem, that we needed Him, and my faith was strong in this decision. I would have been more shocked if He chose not to intervene.
As I thought about this confidence, it opened my eyes up to a whole new world of prayer options. Why am I not this desperate/confident in other aspects of my life? Think about how much more radical of a father, husband, co-worker, friend, etc. I could be if I exerted the same amount of faith in His leadership in my life. While I walked away grateful for the gas, I also walked away convicted.
And perhaps that is what He intended all along.
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