Precision, Place, and Prayer

It was Tuesday morning, June 8, 2010.  I got up to see my daughter Emily before she headed off to school for her next to the last day of high school.  She had finals and was studying before driving to school.  I didn’t want to miss these last few mornings with her before high school ended for her so I was up to talk with her, pray with her, and see her out the door to school.

After she left, I headed out the back door to walk around the track at Lehr Park that is in my backyard.  That morning I listened to music on my mp3 player and had a variety of thoughts sifting through my head.  After three laps of the track, a total of a mile and a half, I went home, picked up the daily newspaper and got out my keys to go inside and get ready to head to work.

It was then that I discovered that I had the wrong keys.  I had the keys to get in the church shed but not the keys for the house.  So I rang the doorbell and knocked for awhile in hopes that my sleeping daughter Rosie would hear me and let me in.  I didn’t have much hope of that happening however because her bedroom is upstairs in the back corner from where the front door is.  So after trying for awhile I went out on the back deck and read the newspaper, sitting on the chair that I had just moved up from our basement in the last few days.

After finishing off the paper I tried the doorbell and knocking routine a little more but knew it wouldn’t work, and it didn’t.  So I decided I would walk to my office at the church and get in there after someone else arrived. 

Walking down Davidsburg Road I at times prayed blessings on the people in the houses and those driving by and saw young children waiting for the school bus along with their parents.  Seeing these children almost brought tears to my eyes as I thought about how quickly the years had passed since my girls were so young and heading out to school. 

Still I kept walking, headed towards the church, when all of a sudden a guy in a car pulled into the parking lot of a store I was walking around.  He called out my name, well he didn’t remember my last name but he thought I was Pastor Rich from Friendship Church.  So I stopped my walking and went over to his vehicle. 

He started telling me about what was happening in his life.  I realized that he really needed to talk so I tried to concentrate the best I could.  Very soon in listening I realized something that was amazing to me.

That morning I got up like many mornings to see my daughter off to school.  I ate some breakfast instead of just walking first, which I would need since I couldn’t get back into the house after walking.  I wanted to do my walk and drive to my job.  I had thought about walking four laps around the track rather than three.  I read the paper instead of just walking to my office right away.

All of these things had made it so that I would be at the precise place I was needed to talk to this man.  Had I driven or left earlier I wouldn’t have been seen by him.  God had me in the precise place he needed me. 

It was so cool to think about that while I was talking with him.  I soon found that not only was I there to talk to him but to be reminded of some things that I needed to think about myself. 

I had just mentioned to someone just a few days before that “God has all of eternity to answer a split-second prayer.”  Now I was in the middle of that myself.  And now I wonder what situations God used in that person’s life to get him to that exact geographical location at that exact time.  Perhaps we were the answer to prayer for both of us, not just him.

Philippians 4:6-8 (New Living Translation)

 ⁶ Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. ⁷ Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

 ⁸ And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. ⁹ Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.