Sunday, August 9, 2009

Is God Interested in the Small Stuff?

We went four wheeling in the mountains around Salida, CO on Friday for six hours. WOW! We went through thick aspen and Colorado Blue Spruce groves, clear streams, ghost towns and high mountain passes for a dusty, fun-filled day....that is until we got back to the cabin and my son declared, "Oh no, I can't find my wallet." His wallet contains his learners permit and about $350, money he earned by teaching swimming lessons all summer.

So for about an hour we looked in our SUV, around the cabin and in his wad of disorganized clothes (he doesn't believe in folding clothes before putting them in his suitcase). He grew more and more frustrated, surly and generally unlikable; I get the same way when I lose important things, so I understand. I reminded him that my wife and I had asked him to put at least half his money in my wife's purse for safe keeping (always helpful to hear "Not only did you lose your wallet, but you are are also irresponsible"....I'm losing 'dad points' here, I know).

So I called the ATV rental place (All Seasons Adventures in Salida, CO) and asked them to look on the ATVs we rented and call me back. Nothing. My son was afraid he had dropped it on the 50 or so miles of ATV trails and was thoroughly being cynical concerning the goodness of anyone who found it. So finally I suggested to him to pray for his wallet's safe return (OK, it wasn't a "suggestion" it was more of a edit). He grumbled about that so I took away his cell phone until he sincerely prayed out loud for God to help him. (OK, OK, so probably not the best motivation for prayer at the time but you didn't see the eye rolling that I got). But, surprise, surprise, he prayed a really cool prayer for God to help him find his wallet (and got his phone back).

So we headed back to Texas with a grumpy teenager, trusting that God was going to help answer this prayer. So four hours later, we were driving through Clayton, NM when my cell phone rang. It was the ATV rental place....they had found his wallet with all the money in it. I told my son the news and he whooped like a crazy man and had a smile from ear to ear.

Back home at last from Colorado. Even though it was 45 degrees when we left Colorado and was 86 degrees when we pulled into Irving at 2 am last night....God is cool. What an awesome God we serve, that he would care enough to answer a 16 year old's prayer for a wallet to be found. And by the way, if you are ever in Salida, CO and want to go ATV-ing, call All Season Adventures. They are really nice (and honest) folks.

4 comments:

  1. Sounds like a wonderful beautiful place. I love it when God does such an intimate answer to prayer.

    I also had that happen today. I was being fearful and I prayed to him about it and then lo and behold I just "happened" to read a poem in a book that spoke so personally to me. The poem was called, "Fearless Forever" --I posted it on my blog. It is amazing how God cares over every aspect of our lives...

    ReplyDelete
  2. I think it is really cool when God answers such and intimate prayer. I was lead to encourage/demand that he pray about it...it was like I knew God was going to answer his prayer...but he had to pray it. I have never really been that insistent with my son to pray about something before...I think God was urging me to urge my son to pray. Anyway, the ending was very cool.

    Love your poemm Nannykim...powerful.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Praise the Lord! He really DOES care about every minute little detail!

    In our family, it's often my wife who has to ask me, "Did you pray?" Funny how we get so wrapped up into doing things ourselves (I think it's a guy thing), that we often forget that there's a God who already knows the answer and is ready to jump in and help.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Well, He at least cared about this small thing for my son. I know every prayer doesn't conclude so nicely but in this case, it did. It was certainly a big deal for my son (really grumpy for 34 hours).

    By the way Greg, thanks for the advice on posting pictures...did you notice the Colorado pictures? All because of you, man.

    ReplyDelete