It's been a year now that i have been living with something i hate. I talk to the LORD about it often.
"LORD, i HATE (always emphasized)... those big, stupid, fast, white, work trucks that are always zipping by here day after day after day. I hate them! There are tons of them...back and forth...back and forth...they do not slow down for my children-at-play signs...they do not care how many stones they toss up...they are obnoxious, annoying and stinking dangerous. They have completed ruined my quiet, little, farm trucks only road...the two houses i share with my children sit right next to the road LORD, right on the road...our homes were not built for city stinking traffic...they were built for dirt road life...I. HATE. THEM."
Yeah, pretty much that's my conversation with the LORD...fairly regularly.
Well, by conversation i mean me talking to HIM and not asking HIS advice...just making sure HE knows what? I. HATE. THEM.
Today, as i was taking a leisurely stroll down my country lane...munching on an apple...i started the conversation again. But in my defense...i started in only after 7 big, stupid, fast, white, work trucks flew by me.
"I. HATE. THEM. LORD, " I began. But before i got any further my LORD interrupted me with a thought.
"How about instead of cursing them...you pray for them?"...was the thought.
I processed that idea only for a second before i responded. "I didn't technically curse them LORD. I mean i don't hate the people. I hate the trucks...that ruin my quiet country road... driven by the people"
In all my hating of broken country silence and in all my fear of danger from fast traffic on a small road...
i had forgotten one tiny thing. People were driving those big, stupid, fast, white, work trucks...people just like me...who had jobs, and families, and sickness, and bills to pay, and fears, and failures, and dreams. People that needed prayer.
So while those big, stupid, fast, white, work trucks continued to whiz by me....i began to pray.
i prayed for those hard working men, and their wives, girlfriends and kids.
I prayed for their finances, their relationships, and their health.
I prayed for their heartaches, and struggles and addictions.
I prayed for those who confess CHRIST as SAVIOR to come into the deeper things of GOD and for those who are lost to see the light.
And i pondered...and i marveled...that for a whole year...all i could see were big, stupid, fast, white, work trucks...while the whole time...my loving GOD was looking down into those trucks...at the faces, the hearts and the lives of the men driving those trucks...and desperately wanting to pour out HIS grace, HIS healing, HIS compassion, HIS answers, HIS provision, and HIS presence into each life.
I don't expect i'll ever see the answers this side of eternity, but it's pretty cool to know that GOD has got HIS eye on every one of those hard workers. That HIS desire is for them...not against them. And that HE has raised up this single-mama-country-chick to pray Heaven down into their lives...as they roar by my home...day after day.
These guys have no idea that this country road is being paved with prayers for their lives!
And these guys have no clue that my quiet road is their highway to Heaven.
"LORD, i HATE (always emphasized)... those big, stupid, fast, white, work trucks that are always zipping by here day after day after day. I hate them! There are tons of them...back and forth...back and forth...they do not slow down for my children-at-play signs...they do not care how many stones they toss up...they are obnoxious, annoying and stinking dangerous. They have completed ruined my quiet, little, farm trucks only road...the two houses i share with my children sit right next to the road LORD, right on the road...our homes were not built for city stinking traffic...they were built for dirt road life...I. HATE. THEM."
Yeah, pretty much that's my conversation with the LORD...fairly regularly.
Well, by conversation i mean me talking to HIM and not asking HIS advice...just making sure HE knows what? I. HATE. THEM.
Today, as i was taking a leisurely stroll down my country lane...munching on an apple...i started the conversation again. But in my defense...i started in only after 7 big, stupid, fast, white, work trucks flew by me.
"I. HATE. THEM. LORD, " I began. But before i got any further my LORD interrupted me with a thought.
"How about instead of cursing them...you pray for them?"...was the thought.
I processed that idea only for a second before i responded. "I didn't technically curse them LORD. I mean i don't hate the people. I hate the trucks...that ruin my quiet country road... driven by the people"
In all my hating of broken country silence and in all my fear of danger from fast traffic on a small road...
i had forgotten one tiny thing. People were driving those big, stupid, fast, white, work trucks...people just like me...who had jobs, and families, and sickness, and bills to pay, and fears, and failures, and dreams. People that needed prayer.
So while those big, stupid, fast, white, work trucks continued to whiz by me....i began to pray.
i prayed for those hard working men, and their wives, girlfriends and kids.
I prayed for their finances, their relationships, and their health.
I prayed for their heartaches, and struggles and addictions.
I prayed for those who confess CHRIST as SAVIOR to come into the deeper things of GOD and for those who are lost to see the light.
And i pondered...and i marveled...that for a whole year...all i could see were big, stupid, fast, white, work trucks...while the whole time...my loving GOD was looking down into those trucks...at the faces, the hearts and the lives of the men driving those trucks...and desperately wanting to pour out HIS grace, HIS healing, HIS compassion, HIS answers, HIS provision, and HIS presence into each life.
I don't expect i'll ever see the answers this side of eternity, but it's pretty cool to know that GOD has got HIS eye on every one of those hard workers. That HIS desire is for them...not against them. And that HE has raised up this single-mama-country-chick to pray Heaven down into their lives...as they roar by my home...day after day.
These guys have no idea that this country road is being paved with prayers for their lives!
And these guys have no clue that my quiet road is their highway to Heaven.