I haven’t been blogging for very long. The experts say you lose most readers in the first paragraph, so it is important to have a strong opening. Tell a story your reader can relate to, they say. This is what keeps the reader coming back for more. Kind of like a drug dealer (but not really). Here is my story.
So this guy is walking down the street….you know what, put a pin in that story. I must explain something first. I live in Texas. People here love a good story. To understand a good story, you must understand the vernacular of the storyteller. For example, here in Texas, you don’t say “you all” you say “Y’all”, which means “you all”. Unless it is a lot of ‘y’all’, then it is “all y’all”, which means “all of you all”. Got it?
Asking for directions
That reminds me of when I moved to Texas from a little island in the Bahamas. It was very overwhelming. Using the GPS at that time was not that common as we do today, so asking for directions was the norm. It was a happy day when you stopped and you got an old guy who would start the conversation with “Y’all folks lost?” He would always help you out and would tell you to go past 4 stop signs, turn left by the gas station. If you go by the big oak tree with the tire swing you have gone too far.
It would be a bad day when you got some young kid who would tell you to go 2.7-miles south by southeast….I stopped listening already. That old guy knew the way out. He had been there before. But the best part was he knew how to tell you how to get there in a way you would understand.
I love old hymns. My all-time favorite line from my favorite hymn is from “What a friend we have in Jesus”. It goes like this:
“O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear, all because we do not carry, Everything to God in prayer.”
Very powerful stuff. It’s such a simple concept. God has been here before and he knows the way out. Somehow, we mess this up (if you are like me you mess this up constantly). Some things are just too simple of a concept and I think that scares us. We believe it can’t be that easy. Like for example, you can distinguish an alligator from a crocodile by paying attention to whether the animal sees you later or in a while. Very simple. So is the decision to trust God.
In ‘US’ we trust?
Maybe we don’t trust God as much as we should because we trust ourselves more. Maybe we feel we know ourselves best, and we can make the best decisions for us. Jeremiah 1:5 says “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you.” Now that sounds like it came from someone we should be trusting.
Today, I choose to put my trust in the Almighty God. Sometimes I forget and start to trust myself. I lean on my own understanding. But that is quickly corrected. Psalm 25:4-5 says: “Show me the right path O Lord, point out the road for me to follow.” Just like that old guy who’s been there before, and God knows the way out.
Recalculating…recalculating…recalculating. Those words to me are so infuriating and frustrating. That is what we get from God when we continually try to do our own thing. Then we sit there and wonder why it’s not working out. Sometimes it is even things we believe that are good. Maybe you tried to open a business and it failed. Or you chose a space to serve in the church and dread going there every Sunday.
Proverbs 11:14 says where there is no guidance, the people fall. Most of us don’t like asking for help. Some of us ask for help and do not heed the wisdom that is given to us. Some of us ask for God’s help, we heed his wisdom, but decide to put a little bit extra on the backend. Now, we all know how much God needs our help in our decisions for our lives sigh. But I digress. I was supposed to tell a story at the beginning to get you hooked so you can read this blog post.
Rerouting…
I got a little distracted. Let’s take that pin out, here is my story. So, this guy is walking down the street, when he falls in a hole. The walls are too steep and he can’t climb out. A doctor passes by, and the guy shouts up “Hey you, can you help me out?” The doctor writes him a prescription, throws it down in the hole, and moves on. Then a priest comes along and the guy shouts up “Father, I’m down in this hole, can you help me out?” The priest writes out a prayer, throws it down in the hole and moves on.
Then his friend walks by. “Hey Joe, it’s me can you help me out?” And the friend jumps down in the hole. Our guy says “What are you crazy? Now we are both down here!” The friend says, “Yeah, but I’ve been down here before, and I know the way out.”
I’m sorry the hook to keep you reading came so late, but if you are still here reading I have a message for you. Don’t stay stuck in your situation. God can and he will help you. He will send you someone, a dream, a vision, maybe even a messenger pigeon if he has to. If you ask him he will help you get out.
Prescott Williamson is a Bible-believing Christian. He is a husband, a father, and someone who believes that there is a little humor to be found in whatever situation God sends your way. He was born in the small islands of the Bahamas but now lives in the Suburbs of Fort Worth Texas, which is basically the same thing. He enjoys TV, reading, blogging and serving in his church (especially on the days they serve donuts). You can see what I have been thinking about lately on my blog www.prescottascoolbreeze.com.
Exactly! It’s tough when things are horrible, going to church or even friends when things seem hopeless. We ‘pull ourselves up by the bootstraps’ and THEN praise God for the victory. I have found GOOD FRIENDS don’t judge, they stand by, they remind us of the unconditional love no matter if we are judged without cause or if we really screwed up. Sometimes we get those prayers, mostly churches do a great deal of judging. But if we don’t share those burdens, much of that blame lays on our shoulders and forget that God will fight for us. Look too at how hard it is for women. What happens when your Christian husband does not take on the spiritual leadership mantle? Women try to take over that role. I am not being misogynist but it is Biblical, though you can find many, many women in leadership roles that God is perfectly OK with. But to usurp the role of the spiritual leader is like rebellion against God. We need to trust. Pray. All of us. Thank you for this post!
It’s funny how often we try to move through life and think we can do things on our own. We yet to be independent when we know we need His help. Great article! Thank you for sharing!
I love how the hook was shared towards the end! This was a much needed read. A lot of times we want to trust ourselves because what could possibly go wrong? God knows us best so it is important to listen and to also learn more about him so we can understand when it is he who is speaking! Thanks for the great article!
All very excellent points. Trusting in just yourself is a dangerous proposition. That is a recipe for disaster. Let God lead you even as a trial period and see how much he can change your outlook and your views on things you had never considered before.