Stop long enough for God to take good care of you.

One of my first memories as a very young child living in Killeen, Texas, was riding next to my Dad in our Model A Ford. Pulling into a service station for gas, several attendants came forward to ‘service’ our car. We drove right past the pumps and back onto the street!

Our brakes had failed.

The employees had come out to take care of our automotive needs and we simply drove right past them. They were ready to check our oil, fill the tank and clean our windshield … but we left before they could do those things.

I wonder how often we do the same thing in other settings.

For instance, we pull into church on Sunday … the musicians, pastor and Holy Spirit are ready to minister to us and we don’t even come to a complete spiritual stop. We roll right on through and back into life. Our outlook on life needed to be cleaned up, our spiritual fuel tank was dangerously low and some of the oil of the Holy Spirit had leaked out somewhere along our journey.

Just as you can’t service a car while it’s running down the highway, it’s all but impossible to service your spiritual life without coming to a stop occasionally. In today’s frantic pace, slowing down feels like it could be disastrous. And coming to a complete stop? Too scary to even contemplate!

Yet it’s always been those who wait who get serviced!

“God proves to be good to the man who passionately waits, to the woman who diligently seeks.

It’s a good thing to quietly hope, quietly hope for help from God.”

Lamentations 3:25, 26 The Message

“Rest in the Lord; wait patiently for him to act.” Psalm 37:7 The Living Bible

 The call to stop and wait comes with two interesting adverbs – ‘passionately’ and ‘patiently.’ We must not keep our gas pedal pushed to the floor even after we’ve put the car in Park. We need to be excited and energetically enthused about what God might have for us as we come to a stop in his presence. He has what we need and we need to give time for the transfer!

And then the word ‘patiently’ comes into play. Interesting that one of most un-favorite words holds so much latent possibility for our futures. Trust God’s timing in this matter.

This week check your brakes. Get them fixed if necessary. There’s an Attendant waiting to service your life and get you safely (and on time) to your destination.