Parking

It has started and any of us who have been shopping have fallen into the wells of frustration in finding a parking place. We all have different strategies as to how to accomplish our goals...some of us pull slightly over on a row and wait for a walker who seems to have potential of leaving via car....others of us just cruise around and around and around... while still others will not wait and park a good hike away! But whatever my strategy is for the day...I usually ask God where he wants me to park...and pray for a parking place. I experienced this challenge this week in the Galleria...I generally fall into the pull over and wait group...and sure enough I only had to wait a short while before I found my target. She came out, I gave her a courtesy wave and quite quickly I was tucked into my spot...and on my way to set forth on my errand.

Parking....placing yourself in a position of halt between two existing hard lined immovable objects, staying within the bounds of your designated lines...and positioning yourself as far forward as can be...so that you don't get your backside clipped by something moving past....a little fast.
And you thought I was talking about cars....well it was the car positioning that got me thinking!

Simply put....we have choices...we have strategies, we have boundaries, we have alternatives... that all are a formula for parking our response to an invitation to know Christ. Some of us go round and round trying to find that "right" answer to life's challenges seeking everything and everyone but Christ...some of us park our thoughts in the distance not sure we want to get entangled into a web of Christian direction... while still others park tentatively and with faithful confidence on the life row they have turned on...to see where Christ will open up a space for His peaceful and still countenance.

We do have choices each day as to where we park our thoughts. And they are generated by our acceptance or denial of who is really in charge of our lives. I do pray for parking places regularly...figuratively and literally.
There are times when I am secure enough in my faith to wait out a directed placement and then there are times when I get anxious and park far away in hopes that I can slide one by God and do things my way without consulting him....as a directive. And still there are times when I do go round and round seeking other alternatives as decision making forces....and unconsciously leave God completely out of the bag of sources for an answer.

But I am convinced day by day that when I do patiently pull over and wait that he will send me an answer. My job is to be on watch and be faithfully seeking His answer....and to where he wants me to be positioned. But in thinking this through..it is not about the actual spot that we land in...it is more about the process of the find... there is only one answer no matter what parking lot we have found ourselves in...we are to be positioned between the Son and the Father....and the Holy Spirit is the one to guide us in to that place. It is not the circumstances that we are to dwell on...it is where we end up. We have the choice to seek or distance ourselves or wait faithfully in the confidence that Christ is in control...and as long as we have secured our placement with him...he will park us according to his purposes....for His glory.

You will find yourself sometime this week seeking a parking place...and you will ultimately find one...but as you pull in and turn off your engine...consider a minute where and who you have parked your faith with and in and beside! As I write this I think of my son Tom living in New York without a car...does parking apply...it does because each day he too has to make choices as to where he parks his life...the "parking lot" is not where we park our cars but rather in whose garage do we park our lives. Where are you parked?

Romans 8:25
But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently

Dear Lord, Help us to me mindful of where we park our thoughts...and if you see that we have pulled in crooked, and are not staying within your bounds help us to straighten up and consider others as much as we consider ourselves. And Lord....please position us in a way that we will be flanked on either side by boundaries that protect us, keep us aligned and settle us into a spot of peace and security. Amen

Praise God wherever you are or whatever situation he has allowed you to be in ...for His glory will shine through!