A few weeks ago I was tired. Tired of being around people.
Tired of my job. Tired of being broken. Tired of being tired. So in response to
my tiredness I did the only thing I could think to do. I asked God to hang out.
This is the story of his response to my invitation.
I needed to get away, so I hopped into “The Duchess” (my
silver 1992 Grand Marquis) to go meet God. I just needed to get out of the
house, away from distractions and people. I figured God likes nature, seeing as
he created it and all, so I went looking for him in some of the parks in my
area. I drove around for quite a while until I found the park that I figured
would be a suitable meeting place for God and I; not many people, benches along
the lake, shade. It was perfect.
And so I parked The Duchess and 
walked to one of the
secluded benches along the lake. As I sat down, I let out a sigh releasing any
tension, stress, or exhaustion from my body. “This is going to be good,” I
thought, “No people, no distractions, fresh air. Perfect. It’s just you and me
God.”
I sat on the bench for about 5 minutes, waiting for God to
come hang out. And in the midst of my waiting, a middle-aged gentleman walked
over to me out of nowhere and began talking to me. He seemed harmless, but was
unwelcome in my mind as I was clearly not interested in a conversation.
“Hello. You look like you just came from work. Where do you
work?” he politely asked.
“Yep,” I said shortly, “Adventures in Missions.”
He proceeded to ask me about what that is, what we as an
organization do, and what my particular job is. I carried on the conversation
with him while trying to hint at the fact that I was trying to get some alone
time.
“Yeah, I came out here to duke some things out with the
Lord,” I told him after he commented on how nice the park is.
He chuckled a little at my remark and said, “Good luck with
that. As long as we’re here, on this Earth, we will be wrestling the flesh. Our
flesh vs. the Spirit inside us. We just have to keep trusting God in the midst
of the battle.”
My proverbial jaw dropped as I thought, “Who is this guy?!”
Then I realized that I asked God to meet me here. I assumed
that meant God in the form of physical absence accompanied by the undeniably
overwhelming envelope of peace around me. It occurred to me that maybe he was
actually meeting me in the form of a gentle spirited middle-aged man in a park.
“I didn’t come over here to judge or anything, but it sounds
like you’re doing a good job. The way you are serving so many people so they
can go on all these missions, you’re doing good. Just remember that you need to
care for you too. That’s important too,” said the man who knew little to
nothing about me or the things I was wrestling the Lord on.
My heart instantly softened as the words he spoke sunk into
places I didn’t even know needed encouragement.
“Well, I’ll let you get back to finding the peace you came
here looking for,” the man said as he began to move in the direction of some
picnic tables.
As he walked away tears began to run down my face. “Thank
you God. Thank you for loving me enough to send a stranger to deliver your
love. Thank you for meeting me here.”
I wonder how many times I’ve missed God’s answers to my
prayers when they look different than what I expected. I wonder how many times
I’ve missed seeing God when he presents himself in the form of people
throughout my day.
