Monday, November 26, 2012

Under the Authority of A King

A church sign in our area posted "If God is your co-pilot... switch seats!"
Who is in the driver seat of your life? Who is really in charge?
I like to think I can answer that question confidently, without hesitation: "Jesus is in charge. He has the wheel." But even though I know He is the ruler of the universe, I still arm wrestle him for the driver's sear.

Being a Christian means we surrender to the authority of Jesus as the Lord of our life. We call him King. We call him Master.
Surrender is not easy.  Most times, I  call him Master, make my petition known, say Amen and then immediately start worrying if things will turn out ok.  Yes, the King is in charge but my lack of faith is revealed in how quick I am to think that I may need to take the wheel and drive things forward a little bit.

Last week,  I had a surprise reminder of his Lordship. Our women's group handed out brown paper grocery bags for the donation drive for the women's shelter. This was a fine use of the bags. No problem except that I realized another group was counting on having bags on hand for our annual Christmas Bazaar. With no more bags, I would certainly need to remember to follow up with several people about getting another set of paper bags in time for Saturday. For days,  I would suddenly remember this loose end on my to-do list and then forget to follow up. Finally,  I prayed a short prayer to God to not let me forget these bags. (Yes, it is silly, but somehow God still puts up with me)

The surprise came when a stranger walked into the church foyer and looked around like she didn't know where to turn. I saw her and asked her if she was looking for something or someone. She said, "Oh, I happened to be cleaning out my garage and I discovered all these brown paper grocery bags. Do you want them? I hate to throw them out." I couldn't believe it. Here a total stranger offers up the exact thing we needed at exactly the right time.
I said, "Bags?! Actually, yes! I have been praying about bags for days!" I am sure she thought I was kidding. But I meant it. She went to her car and brought in enough bags to replenish our stock two times over.  I smiled as I realized that King Jesus was telling me chill out and let him get the glory. King Jesus was showing me once again that in the Kingdom of God, our needs are met in surprising ways, through unsuspecting strangers, blessings and more. A reminder once again that God is not my co-pilot. He is my King!