There are so many days when I find myself wondering what on earth God’s plan is for me. I ponder it rather frequently these days as I don’t really feel like I know what path I’m supposed to be traveling. Sometimes I get little epiphanies of enlightenment, like the other day when I was posting the road signs for our Live Nativity.
Now lest you think this is a job I love to do, let me say that there are two sign locations that absolutely gave me anxiety due to their rather perilous traffic locations (but rather good visibility from a marketing perspective). Envision a 44 year old woman carrying a 3’ by 4’ metal sign on 6’ sign posts over her head so she can see the traffic, across two lanes of state highway or busy county road to stand and tie this advertisement to a telephone pole or light post in prime traffic visibility. Now stop laughing and let’s get back to the subject…Clearly God has jobs for me to do at St. Andrew, and one of them involves directing our Live Nativity. One of the facets of publicizing this event is the updating and posting of road signs. At the time we designed and ordered them, we somehow picked a size that would fit in the back of my station wagon. I thought nothing of how the Holy Spirit moved me to not choose a larger size for either the signs or the posts but happily they fit into the mom-mobile. Each year I order new vinyl numbers to update the dates. I then load them into my car. I’ve been running around each year posting these things at their standard places around town around 10-12 days before the event. Then, I go back out on the day after the Live Nativity and take them all down.
However, last week I was suddenly struck with the thought that I almost didn’t have an appropriate vehicle for this purpose this year. Our car is a 2001 Ford Taurus station wagon with over 120,000 miles on it. Our daughter had been driving it around last year, but we were having a few problems with it that we weren’t sure were worth fixing. We debated doing the repairs…and then the oil light came on. Our mechanic gave it a rather expensive diagnosis, but considering the age of the car, suggested we trade it in or sell it for parts. After nursing it along for a few weeks, keeping local, and saying a few prayers, we purchased a new used car (how’s that for oxymoron?) from a friend and were ready to get rid of the wagon, as my needs for a wagon were no longer valid. I am mostly done transporting multiple kids, including Girl Scout troops and all their cookies.
But God clearly had more plans for our old station wagon, because the oil light mysteriously went out, puzzling more than just our mechanic. We fixed the few repairs needed and it’s been running just fine ever since. It’s as if God gave it a new life because it actually seems to be running pretty darn well for a 10 year old car that’s taken the abuse of a lot of camping, vacations, and kids, kids, kids being schlepped all over His creation.
Fast forward to December 2010 and our upcoming Live Nativity. As I installed the signs to promote this year’s event, St. Andrew’s Christmas Gift to the community, I thought about how God does really work in mysterious ways, and how even a station wagon can have a God-given purpose. This only goes to show that God will use us and our “stuff” for His plans, whether we’re aware of it or not. Even a station wagon can be fit to His purpose. I’m guessing that when it really does come time for this car to be truly retired, God will provide another vehicle to carry the messages of our Live Nativity and serve this purpose for Him…and maybe even a new “poster of the signs.”
So if you’re driving around Parsippany and see “Live Nativity” signs come and see what all the fuss is about. Come and hear a story about how God has used the most unlikely of people to change the world. Then perhaps it won’t be such an unlikely thing to think that God might have a purpose for a trusty old station wagon…or maybe even a purpose for you and for me.
Live Nativity
Saturday & Sunday
Dec. 11 & 12
4:30 - 8:00 pm
St. Andrew Lutheran Church
335 Reynolds Ave.
Parsippany, NJ 07054
973-887-6713
No comments:
Post a Comment