"Mom, if I can visit my friend Dylan, I will give you 5$."
Who in
their right mind would respond something like, "5$! That's a deal!" No
way! Most moms genuinely love their children. They would be hurt if
their children thought they had to be bribed.
The same is even
more true with our Heavenly Father. His moto is: "Ask, and you will
receive. Search, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened
for you." (Matthew 7:7 GW)
In case of doubt, remember: "Have
faith that you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer." (Matthew
21:22 GW)
We had a perfect example of this last summer in a
hotel in Northern Spain.
First, we couldn't find the hotel. We
asked a local, and he certainly tried to help us. "It's right there!" He
told us in Spanish, or at least that's what we think he said, for he was
indicating a location on the other side of the river.
My wife
looked blankly at that long ribbon of water, noting as she did that
unless we had one of those hybrid vehicles that can also become a boat,
there was no way to get "right there"! She looked at me and shook her
head.
I decided to try my broken Spanish: "Is there a bridge?"
The young man shook his head and said something, but the only word
we understood was the one we didn't want to hear: "No!"
He then
did his best to tell us how to get there, but with the language barrier,
he just couldn't make us understand. We decided to drive back up the
road we had used to enter the town to see if we could find a bridge, and
we eventually succeeded. We also found a fisherman who knew exactly
where the hotel was, and since we now had a bridge, he was able, with
lots of hand gestures, to make us understand how to get there.
What a relief when we finally arrived. It was late and we were very
tired. We were looking forward to relaxing in our room, and maybe even
going to bed a bit early; but it would seem that relaxation was not in
the plan for us...
The first thing we noticed was that the room
was hot. We tried to set the thermostat on the air conditioner, but we
couldn't get it to go any lower than 25 C (77 F). And although the unit
was blowing full-blast, the room temperature was much more accurately
around 35 C. Far too warm for good sleep!
We went to the office
and tried to explain in broken Spanish what the problem was. The hotel
owners were really nice, AND they quickly assured us that they spoke a
little English. Bonus! Someone returned to our room with us to lower the
thermostat to 20 C. "That should work," he stated. "If your room is
still hot after 30 minutes, let me know."
As you may have already
guessed, 30 minutes later, bringing us now to 11 P.M., we were back in
the reception area.
The owner immediately got on the phone to
call the air conditioner repair man, asking him to come.
What...wait...It's 11:00 P.M.!
Besides not fully believing that a
repairman would come out that late in the evening, we really didn't want
to stay up any longer! We asked the hotel owner to just give us a fan,
and he brought us a powerful one right away; but when we tried to help
him understand this was all we needed, that the air conditioning
repairman didn't need to come, he wouldn't have any part of it.
Forty-Five minutes later, we began hearing someone banging and bumping
out in the hall, and at midnight there was a knock on our door. It was
the air conditioning repairman. He checked our thermostat and told us,
in Spanish naturally, that each room has its own air conditioning unit
and that he thought our problem was resolved. It was 12:20 a.m. by the
time he left, and he returned early in the morning to complete the job.
I had often heard it said that the Spanish take their time to fix
things. Many tourists complain that requested repairs on showers, air
conditioning and so on, never happen. I cannot concur, for this was not
our experience. We learned early on that if we are friendly and try to
speak their language, they would do anything to help, for the Spanish
people truly care and will go out of their way for you.
If a
hotel manager would go out of his way to help us with our air
conditioner at 11:00 P.M., how much more will our Heavenly Father come
to our help at any time of day or night!
Rob Chaffart
The Broken A/C. Majestic Mountain View, Part 37
Today's Bible Verse:
"Don't bargain with God. Be direct. Ask
for what you need. This is not a cat-and-mouse, hide-and-seek game we're
in." (Luke 11:10 MSG)
The Broken A/C. Majestic Mountain View, Part 37
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