Lori and I had dropped the kids off with her mom and had begun our date night with a trip to Lupe Tortilla in Katy before heading downtown. I love baseball and thankfully my wife enjoys the sport as well. So, when possible we will often go one of our AWESOME home team showings for a date night. You’re probably thinking that she just goes for me but I promise she really enjoys going to the games. This was on a Friday evening in late April and the Astros were playing the Indians. Lori was upset that one of her favorite players, Michael Bourn who plays for the Indians, was injured and wouldn’t be playing. We enjoy our beef fajitas at Lupe’s and we work our way downtown through the ever present traffic and finally arrive at the ballpark.
We turned onto the oneway street that runs right in front of the ballpark as we were navigating towards an economical parking location. As we are driving down the oneway street I notice a car coming directly at me, of course going the wrong way down the oneway street. ‘What is this?’ were my initial words to Lori. Then we see and hear a string of HPD cars pursuing with lights and sirens ablaze. Oh my….. because of the way they have the streets blocked off for games there was not room for the two of us to pass each other. So, I spun the minivan at 180 degrees and swiped him with the back side of the Toyota Sienna rendering him motionless so that the officers could seize the suspect.
Okay, so it went a little different than that… I made a quick turn to the left into a parking lot and the fleeing car along with the string of lights and sirens flew by us. The entire thing probably didn’t last 30 seconds but moments like that get your attention in a very unique way. Whatever daydream or conversation is happening during a moment like this gets forgotten immediately.
What if your current stresses are God’s way of demanding your attention?
We often get going along in life in the routines of work, family, t-ball, gymnastics, tae kwon do, or whatever else fills our minds and schedules and our spiritual engagement becomes an occasional reading or prayer where it can be squeezed into the routine. I believe God loves us so much that He would work in some pretty crazy ways to grab our attention.
Sometimes our comfort and lack of perceived need for God’s work and intervention in our lives enflames a spirit of complacency. Then we notice our comfort gets interrupted by something. There could be a new financial stress, job change, or anything else that rattles us out of our complacency. Most of us live in this suburban reality around Katy, TX where we easily fall into a trap of not needing to depend on God for things. It seems that this was the reason for the ‘thorn’ which God kept present in the life of Paul.
Let me ask you…. What if your current stresses that have surfaced in your life are God’s way of grabbing you by the shoulders, staring into your eyes and demanding your attention? Are you giving Him the attention and devotion in your life that He deserves? Are you experiencing the JOY in your life that comes from loving Him with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength?
If not today, can you recall moments in your life when God was obviously rattling your heart and demanding your attention?
Matt Powell serves as teaching pastor at Crossings Community Church, a body of believers whose mission is to engage, equip, and empower homes for gospel transformation in Katy, TX.