Wednesday morning at precisely 11 am, I pulled out of my
hotel parking lot with my new host family, and headed to my new host home.
Again, God answered each of my specific prayer requests; this time it was that
I would first of receive an offer to stay with a family, but also that it would
be less than 200€ a month, and that among other things there would be wifi.
I realize that these requests are very specific, and I know certain people with
whom this kind of prayer would not sit well. But it is my philosophy (although
it’s not really mine, it’s God’s), that it’s okay to ask Him for whatever you
want. In fact, that’s actually what He wants
us to do…
Philippians 4:6-7, “Do
not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and
petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”
I have always taken the side of assuming that the word “every”
there actually means “every”. I have learned though a couple of dangers can arise from this passage. The first danger comes
in how we respond when He says “no” or “not yet” to our requests. What do we
do then? If we react like a child in a grocery store when their mother refuses
to buy them the candy they asked for, then we are missing the point. I find it
a much more fitting response, given His unchanging character, to thank Him for the “no” or “not yet”,
because clearly He (if we truly believe Him to be Love) has our best interest
at heart. To act in any other way would be no different than a soldier getting
angry with the sniper who is covering him, because the soldier wanted to raid
the building and the sniper wouldn’t let him. Even though 5 minutes before the
soldier arrived, the sniper saw a suspicious man carry a bomb into the building
and come back without it. Clearly, the
sniper knows that there is danger awaiting anyone who enters that building.
The second danger comes when we take out the “with
thanksgiving” part. When we only go to our Heavenly
Father to ask for things, we are missing so much of who He is. It’s not that He
doesn’t want to give us good gifts unless we thank Him for things (if that was
true, how would you explain the cross?...). He delights in giving us good
gifts, just like any parent. But not only is it an exercise that, if done
consistently, helps us to move toward valuing Him more than what He does for
us; but also, as Lewis puts it (and as Piper explains it in the clip below),
thanksgiving – which is a form of praise and worship – completes the process of
enjoyment. Please watch this (10:57-16:47): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EoUkZC9ok-w
Anyways…I had practice with the local team at 5:30 again,
but because of my change in location, I had to get used to the bus system
again. On the way there it was relatively smooth! And even on the first leg of
my trip back everything was fine. I took the tram to the stop across the street
from the bus stop I needed to go to. Not a problem. But that’s where things got
interesting. As I stepped off the tram, I saw my bus pulling away, and felt no
need to chase it down. Maybe I should’ve (although put in the same situation
again, I probably still wouldn’t have chased it. If you know me this comes as
no surprise to you I’m sure), because it was the last bus of the night. Other buses
were still running, but of course mine, flashed in big black capital letters on
the interactive schedule, clearly said “SERVICE TERMINÉE”. I’m sure you can figure
out what that means. So I walked down the street to McDonalds, stuffed my face,
and used the wifi to get the walking directions back to my host home. What
would have been a 14 minute ride, was a 1 hour and 38 minute walk. It was about 10 by
now. Let’s just say my calves were really sore Thursday morning.
I walked up the hill to my host home just before midnight,
just as “Southern Comfort Zone” finished playing in my headphones (although I
still have yet to see the Eiffel Tower lit up on a Paris night…). Oh and I may
or may not have tried to get into the wrong house again, but it totally wasn’t my
fault because the mail box in between the houses had their number on it so I
had to guess, and also the key they gave me fit into the keyhole of both
houses. But, I noticed my wifi didn’t work as well in front of the first house
as it did in front of the second, so I eventually figured it out.
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