Skip to main content

Did Anyone Pray?

Sunday evening just after the service ended and we were leaving the building, I asked Dawn for the van keys. She quickly went for her purse. I chatted with several as I waited for her return.

If you know Dawn’s purse you know that it has many compartments. I always think of Captain Kangaroo’s pockets when thinking of her purse. Captain Kangaroo had deep coat pockets which always revealed anything and everything strange. He seemed to have whatever was necessary for every situation in those bottomless pockets.

Dawn quickly came back with a somewhat befuddled look on her face. That is NEVER a good thing unless I'm playing a joke on her. She couldn't find the keys.

The whole church quickly became involved in the search. We looked everywhere. Suspects quickly began to come to mind. Could it be that "so and so" took them? She was a tad mad at me tonight? Did someone play a mean trick and chuck the keys in the weeds? What happened to those keys!

As we all were scrambling Maicon said, "Has anyone prayed about the keys?" Wow! Good question. I responded negatively and prayed as I continued to look, "Father, help us to find the keys!"

About a half an hour, and three "dump the purse out on the floor" episodes later, someone asked me, "Do you think that it would be a good idea to take EVERYTHING out of that purse?"

The thought scared me! EVERYTHING? WOW! I don't know... ok let's go for it.

Dawn was elsewhere as I began the grim task. One by one the items came out. One by one the pockets were disemboweled. One by one they confessed no keys.

I gave the thing one final shake and Graziele said, "I heard keys!" I too had heard the faint tinkle of metal against metal. There was hope! I grabbed for the last bulge in the blackness of that bottomless pit and felt a hard wad. I reached to dislodge it and discovered the mystery. The keys had fallen into a hole in said pocket! I thought that surgery was going to be necessary but finally extracted the prize with a triumphant shout. The house exploded with glee as I held the tiny ring in the air. I felt like Gollum, "My Precious!"

As we left the building Grazi said, "Pastor, I didn't know what was going on. I prayed for God to show us the keys and nothing happened. So, I prayed again and still nothing!"

I love childlike faith that is surprised when answers don't come quickly from Father. We all left church on Sunday with good lessons in faith and prayer. Pray before you panic. Trust as if God is going to answer you right away. But also realize that sometimes that answer might take awhile to come. It is fun to be a part of such lessons. Especially when we FIND the keys!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

What Are You Worth?

What are you Worth?  Have you ever thought about what you are worth? In investing circles there is a term used to gauge this exact question, it's called Net Worth. You take all of your assets, like property owned, funds in your bank account, clothes, jewelry, car, etc.. You total all of these things. You then take everything you owe, like mortgage, car loan, and credit card debt, and you subtract these items from the first total. This gives you your net worth. That number represents where you are financially. Most people never stop to think about this number because they don't understand anything about it. They never have two nickels to rub together. They live from hand to mouth and know (or at least believe) nothing will ever change so, they fall into the "daily grind" mentality. Psalm 49 should be a great encouragement to such as these. The sons of Korah write about them. These sons write about all of us. They call all people everywhere to listen to their wisdom. Bo...

Tottering!

I was watching my one year old grandson, Brandon, today. He had on some baggy little shorts, weird flip-flops over his socks, and he was tottering. It made me think about how I often feel these days. Funny how that when we are little and "innocent" and tottering in our baggy pants, with our little potbelly sticking out from under our t-shirt we look precious. When we are older and tottering in our low slung trousers and the same potbelly, we looks pathetic! I guess that the two drastically opposite points of view are based on the viewer's chronological perspective. Brandon is growing and I'm dying. He is cute because the little guy has a lot to learn and we love to see him progress. The old guy has already had his chance at learning and what he is progressing toward is not quite so much fun to ponder. When I have these weird thoughts I praise my God because He never lets go of my hand whether a tottering little guy or an old one. And I found this verse to prove my po...

Church Isn't a Place

  Many times we say, I'm going to church on Sunday. What some fail to understand is that "church" isn't a building. I remember our pastor saying, "the church is an organism, not an organization." He was teaching us the Bible truth about the church. Jesus Christ is the head of the body, and the church is his body on earth. Another pastor once said, "God's hands have human fingers." This is a difficult concept for some to grasp, pun intended. However, it is important to understand that God accomplishes his work through human beings. He uses us, the church, to do his will and work. It's not that if we don't do his will that he is stymied. But he does use willing servants. To be in the church, one must be a part of the family. You cannot be in the church if you don't have the Savior. The church is not for the lost; it is for the edification of the saved. The lost can come and hear the message of salvation. But the church is made up of t...