The weekend just gone was a nightmare. The plan was to take my fiancée to an open day at a college for my ordination training. I wanted to show her the course that I would be taking, the accommodation, lectures, faculty, and the college itself. We got on the M5, heading south, in my car. When we got off at the Junction to head for the college, my car fails!! The clutch and the gear box goes. It was 9:45, and the open day began at 10:15. We were 20 mins away from the college, but I had to call out the AA, to rescue me. When he arrived, he suggested taking it to a garage and allowing them to survey the damage. I followed the AA to the garage in a jerking 2nd gear untill we arrived. It was 10:40, and I just had enough at that point, I just wanted to go home. The AA man asked us if he wanted to take us to the college, and we gratefully accepted. While we were on the way, he asked me who I was, and what I was doing there. I explained to him that I was a selected ordinand, who was going into the church. It was ironic, that I wanted to bring him to someone who would save him, while he saved us from a hopeless situation. We arrived at the college in an AA van. What a VIP entrance!! As we calmed ourselves down, we got on with the day, and we really enjoyed it. My fiancée got onto her mom and she offered to come and pick us up. At 3:00 I noticed on my phone that was on silent mode, that I had a miss call from my fiancée mom. I got her to phone her mom, and she then burst in to tears!! Her mom was involved in an accident!!! I was shocked!!! I couldn’t believe it!!! Her mom eventually arrived to the college in a police car. Two cars set out to that college, and not one arrived!!!! There was a time of sorting out the issue, and then my fiancée dad came and picked us up, and took us home. The news that I have received today has meant that I’ve got to scrap my car!
So the overview is this:
Two cars are out of action as a result of going to an open day.
The college had both visits from the AA and Police.
Where was God in all of this?? As I was pondering the weekend, I was reading the final chapter in the book “Everyday Church” by Tim Chester and Steve Timmis. Coming to the end of the book, and reflecting on the ideal gospel community, it dawned on me that everything that happened on that weekend was to bring glory to God. Even in the pain of losing my car (a possession) that I had when I was 18, I saw that God was drawing myself to him. I was worshipping and grieving my car, and not the suffering of Christ. It might sound ridiculous but we all put our hearts on possessions, and grieve them when they go, but as the vicar’s wife reminded me what Mark Ashton once said
“It was going to dust anyway”.
So even in the worst time of your life. Praise and thank God for the goodness that comes from it.
Fan into Flame 