January 7 - Driving
By Wendy Reaume
It never fails. No matter where we are going if we are pulling a trailer or towing a vehicle, once I get behind the wheel construction starts and I find myself having to guide the vehicle along cement barriers with only an inch or two of room on either side. There is never anywhere to pull over safely and switch seats with John and inevitably a transport truck will be both in front and behind me, making me into a sandwich should I make a wrong move. Yes, it happens. Every single time. Such a small challenge but it drives me immediately to prayer.
Practical Christianity kicks in when life gets real. If you ask someone does God care about the little stuff they will most likely answer ‘yes.’ However, we don’t often live as if He does. I don’t think we actually really believe that. There are starving children all over the world. War is continuing between the Ukraine and Russia, Gaza and Israel, and every one of us know of loved ones who are sick with cancer or grieving over a death. Does God really care about all the little stuff, or is it selfish to feel that taking up His time is ok when there are much bigger issues out there? My panic over hitting a barrier and the hunger issues of the world. They don’t even compare.
Regardless of what you believe, practical Christianity lives in the here and now. It lives in the reality that YOU walk in…not the one your neighbour around the world experiences. It’s like marriage. You can read all the books, fall in love, watch the Hallmark movies, have romantic dinners and vow in front of God and man, but the rubber hits the road at home in the day in and day out of the little things that make you feel like you are being pecked to death by a hen!
God has given us a tool to help us through the small crisis. It’s not to be saved just for when the hurricane hits or the car crashes; it’s for the mundane walking through life with all of its little challenges. It is His Word. As we feed ourselves daily God just has a way of making the Bible verses relevant to what He already knows we will face. It’s cool on multi-levels because not only does the truth of the Word guide and calm but we feel loved and cared for when the God of the Universe personally hands us exactly what we need. It reaffirms that yes, indeed, ‘I am worth more than many sparrows and God does care about the details.’
The fault lies in our understanding of God. WE get tired. WE can only be stretched so far. WE cannot meet all people’s needs. Hence, God created a day for us to rest and recharge, to be refreshed and renewed in our relationship to Him. HE rested for us; not because He needed to but to set the example because we need to. And it is just as true that God can be involved and deal with every single little issue big or small, because by definition, He is GOD. And we are not. Our ‘little’ stuff does not weigh Him down.
Practical Christianity is taking time for a devotional; focusing on a Bible reading; listening to Scripture in song. It is filling our bucket with God’s Word so when that bucket is smacked on the side and tipped, we don’t find ourselves empty but still full and overflowing.
Thank you for reading this and filling your bucket today with the words below. May you go through your day knowing that the God of the Universe will take time to walk with you—even through the small stuff. I look forward to the cool ways He will remind you today through His Word.
“Cast ALL your cares on Him because…He cares for you!” (1 Peter 5:7)
“Therefore, I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” (Matthew 6:25-34)
Our song for today is It Is Well With My Soul by Audrey Assad.