Timely Reminder in a Truck.

The word ‘Grua’ can send fear into many a motorist in Tenerife, especially if you’ve parked in the wrong spot anywhere in Los Cristianos or Las Americas. They are the guys who roll up in their trucks, and hoist your illegally parked vehicle onto the back and the only way you get it back is paying a 60 euro fine!!! BUT then there are those friendly ‘Gruas’ that you so glad to see when their truck appears..For the uninitiated the word ‘Grua’ is the name given to the man with the ‘tow truck’! And last week Lorraine and I were overjoyed when one of the friendly ones came to our aid. We had driven up to Santa Cruz, just 40 minutes up the motorway from Palm Mar and a journey that he have done many times but on this occasion it was to prove just a little different. We began to have problems with the car about three quarters of the way there. We stopped did a few checks, topped up the oil and the water and back on the road. By the time we got to the well-known (at least here it is!!) Alcampo Shopping Centre it had become evident that our car had a serious problem and we were not driving this vehicle home!!! Thank God for the ‘Grua’ who appeared within 40 minutes in his little yellow truck! It was no time at all until the Seat was secure on the back and Lorraine and I unceremoniously climbed into the cab to begin the journey home..We speak very little Spanish and the ‘Grua’ spoke no English at all yet we managed to communicate and he delivered us, car and all safely back to Palm Mar..

No doubt our experience has been the experience of many, if not all who drive regularly, indeed you could hardly describe it as an epic event in your life!! BUT therein is the point and the ‘Timely Reminder I had sat in the very hot middle seat (atop of the churning engine) inside the cab of that Grua truck last week!!

I have become very fond of words of Frederick Buechner and the other day he posted a quote part of which read “EVERYBODY PRAYS whether he thinks of it as praying or not. The odd silence you fall into when something very beautiful is happening or something very good or very bad. The ah-h-h-h! that sometimes floats up out of you as out of a Fourth of July crowd when the sky-rocket bursts over the water. The stammer of pain at somebody else's pain. The stammer of joy at somebody else's joy. Whatever words or sounds you use for sighing with over your own life. These are all prayers in their way.” (https://www.facebook.com/Frederick.Buechner.Center?hc_location=timeline)
I had one of those Ah-h-h! moments that day..You see I know all about prayer, the necessity of, the power of, the principle of, the daily practice of, indeed I begin every day with prayer and I know that on that day I prayed with those very profound theological words of many of us super-duper Christians..”Grant us journeying mercies as we drive to Santa Cruz”????? (I know, I know what does that means exactly?? Answers on a postcard to….) How many of us have prayed similarly?? Well the thing is, I don’t think that I am the exception here when it comes to praying. I pray sometimes with words that sound ‘Holy’, words I have picked up along my Christian journey, likely from listening to others praying the same words..Now the words are not the point here either, just a little tangent along the way!!! BUT what is the point that I pray BUT……

DO I REALLY PRAY AND DO I REALLY PRAY ABOUT EVERY LITTLE THING???

I am no different at times to anyone else, if we would admit it, that I really pray when I’m in a fix, when trouble hits me and when I really need God to break in..I really pray when something BIG is afoot, I really pray when it comes to my family, I really pray when it comes to my ministry and to the Church I pastor BUT when it comes to me, I’m not sure if my mind does not think, ‘well Lord you have enough on your plate with ALL the other and bigger stuff and….well the little stuff, I can probably look after that…..(Go on admit it, you do too!!!)  

Last week our journey ‘up the road’ to Santa Cruz was, as I have said, a journey that he have done many times, just a routine run out in the car, normal everyday stuff…BUT then events changed that and even though the event was NOT really an event it reminded me that ever little, familiar, routine, everyday thing that we do is something that needs to be given to the Lord in prayer and to Him is just as important as any other of the ‘bigger’ events!! AND remember this, for this is what I was reminded of….What begins for us all as an ordinary day, an ordinary event has the potential, of which the ALL KNOWING GOD is already aware, of becoming an extraordinary day or an extraordinary event that ONLY the supernatural power and the amazing Grace of God will enable you or I to ever get through it. So rather than wait for things to change, as they inevitably do....

TAKE EVERYTHING…ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING TO THE LORD IN PRAYER….AND DO IT NOW…BEFORE YOU BEGIN ANYTHING..