God, what do you have me here for right now?

Good Wednesday morning, my friends.

Yesterday I was reading an article by John Fischer where he described a trip to a local high tech store to have some software repairs made to his wife's iPhone.  It turned into a 6 hour ordeal (with his son - about 10 years old - along with him).

These are the words that struck me:

How did I do? Well I definitely could have done better. I could have seized the opportunity to find out what this experience was all about. Instead of fighting it I could have gone with it and looked for what meaning I could find in the futility, and gain through what appeared to be a random sequence of malfunctions. I could have asked, "God, what do you have me here for right now?" (There's nothing random with God.)

I'm writing about this so that those of you who might be going through a similar experience might think to ask God the question, "what do you have me here for right now?" Actually, we could all stand to ask ourselves this question many times a day.

A few weeks ago I had a minor car accident on my way to work.  I ran into the car in front of me when traffic stopped unexpectedly (at least unexpected by me!).  My immediate reaction was not pretty - I was really, really angry (at myself).  But that lasted only about 5 seconds as I sat in my car and tried to calm down.  As I pulled back from that, I turned to God and at least attempted to ask John's question.  I wondered how God was going to use that situation.  Was I to meet someone and be an influence in their life (or they in mine)?  Was it a test?  Was He orchestrating this to prevent some larger mishap down the road?  Or was He just telling me to pay more attention to my driving?  Actually, I have to admit it may not have actually even been about me!  There were all kids of other people who became part of that problem - the driver of the other car, her husband who came along afterwards, the police officer, the tow truck driver, the insurance adjuster, the body shop guy, and the clerk at the rental car office.  It could have been about any one of them.  But even if that is the case, it was also about me.  It was about my reactions, my patience, and essentially my character - how I handled that whole situation.  The point is to ask the question - "God, what do you have me here for right now?".  I never did get an answer, but that is no surprise - God doesn't need to let me know what He is doing - His ways are higher than mine.

Brandon Heath sings a song called "Give Me Your Eyes" and the prayer today comes from those lyrics.

Grace and peace be yours in abundance,

Bruce

Well, I want a second glance

So give me a second chance

To see the way You see the people all alone

Give me Your eyes for just one second

Give me Your eyes so I can see

Everything that I keep missing

Give me Your love for humanity

Give me Your arms for the broken hearted

The ones that are far beyond my reach

Give me Your heart for the one's forgotten

Give me Your eyes so I can see

Bruce MacPherson macpherson@celtic.ca / Blog: The Celtic Christian / Home: 613.489.4174 Cell: 613.720.0821 You are receiving this email because you have requested it or I felt you would be interested in this material. If you would like to be removed from this email list, please do not hesitate to contact me at the above email address. Likewise, if you know of someone else who you believe would appreciate receiving these messages, please let me know.