Car Trouble

Lately I've been having a bit of a problem with the cooling system in my car.

The first time, I noticed that the engine temperature was getting really hot, so I dove into a service station, which happened to be right there, I mean, like I was passing it when I was having the cooling problem. The service station had everything I needed for the sudden car trouble.

The second time, I pulled into my parking spot at work, shut down, and noticed steam emanating from my hood. I opened the hood and there was a geyser of coolant spraying from one of the hoses leading to the car's radiator. I thought, well, that could have happened anytime on the way to work - but it didn't; it happened as I parked.

Wow, that is amazing.

Immediately I attribute little blessings like this to God's watchful eye. He is taking care of me.

The only problem is, I don't know if He's taking care of me like James, or like Matthew.

James 1:2-4 says "My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing."

Matthew 6:25-27 says "“Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? "

So is this a trial for me to develop character or is it just God taking care of me? Maybe both...

I know that in this fallen world, things are going to break. Stuff is going to get old. Cars are going to need to be fixed. It's nice to know that despite that, I can live out my life like the birds of the air and just embrace the lovingkindness of my Father watching over me. It's nice when a trial brings a gleam to my eye rather than the weight of the world on my mind.

Parent Prayers II

I have decided that I nearly completely missed the mark with my post parent prayers. In recent months I have determined that maybe I should be less concerned about what I will pray for my children than with what I will pray for myself. Matthew 7.

Not that I would cease praying for my children. Or less.

It's just that I've realized that my sense of responsibility to care for them by praying for them, by asking God to bless them and keep them safe, to hold them in His hands, to know and love Him, has blinded me to the work that God needs to continue to do in my own heart. I feel frustrated, impatient, irritable, and only God can fix those things.

So to my laundry list of prayers, I've added requests for me. To be:

Patient
Wise
Selfless
Committed
Imaginative