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Cal's Pastoral Epistles
"Dial One for God"
April 24, 2008
I feel a little silly telling you about it. I couldn't help myself. I was listening
to the car radio on Monday when they announced they were giving away
tickets to see Colbie Caillat. I stopped the car and began dialing the number
with the hope of being caller number nine. I tried again and again. I dialed
so fast and furious that I thought I was going to rupture a tendon in my
forearm. Alas, some lucky teenager in Plainfield won the tickets.
Laugh if you must but I have fallen in love with Colbie Caillat and her hit
song "Bubbly." It brings a smile to my face every time I hear it. From the
first chord I get this feeling of joy that, well, "starts in my toes,
makes me crinkle my nose, wherever it goes, I always know that" it makes
me smile.
Here's how far I have fallen. A few months ago I posted a slide show on
my blog with pictures of some of the kids in our church basketball
program. I decided that I was going to add a contemporary song to it and
make it a music video. I chose "Bubbly." Beaming ear to ear, I brought up
the page to show my daughter. She watched it and as soon as she heard
the song, she groaned, "Dad, that's your favorite song but that's not the
kind of music the boys listen to!"
At mid day on Monday the concert line was open again and I grabbed my
phone and did my best to dial up a couple of free tickets. I tried and tried
and tried again. Each time I hit either a busy signal or a recording telling me
that all circuits were busy. One time the phone rang and I thought I had
hit the jackpot. This was it. My prayer was going to be answered. The
phone rang and rang and rang. I began rehearsing what I was going to say
when they told me I had won the tickets. Fifteen rings. Twenty rings. At
twenty five rings I began to think that maybe I had dialed the wrong
number. Then I heard the deejay announce that a girl from Baltic had won
the ticket.
I resigned myself to the fact that you had to be pretty lucky to get through
and today was not my lucky day. So when I got back to church I decided
to go online and listen to "Bubbly" on the computer. As I sat at my desk the
thought hit me that my frustration in trying to get through to the radio
station was the same feeling a lot of people have when they try to get
through to God. Prayer is a mystery for us. We all pray when something in
our life goes wrong. We sometimes pray when there is something that we
really want. We often pray when we don't know what else to do. The truth
is that most of the time we come away from this experience not knowing
if our prayers were heard.
Well here is the Good News. God always hears our prayers. Even if they
aren't acknowledged or answered right away, the Bible tells us that God is
faithful and true. He receives the prayers of people like you and me. God
cares about us. It has always amazed me the many different ways that God
has answered my prayers. When I look back over my life, I have seen
God's presence in so many situations, people and opportunities. I didn't
always recognize them at the time, but God was there.
The truth is that I won't be going to the Colbie Caillat concert because I
couldn't get through but I can listen to her anytime by just plugging in my
I-pod. In the same way God promises that He will be with us always. You
pray and He will be there. Close your eyes and you'll feel Him. It just might
bubble up from your toes to your nose or wherever it goes. So go ahead
and pray.
God bless! See you in church. Cal
April 24, 2008
I feel a little silly telling you about it. I couldn't help myself. I was listening
to the car radio on Monday when they announced they were giving away
tickets to see Colbie Caillat. I stopped the car and began dialing the number
with the hope of being caller number nine. I tried again and again. I dialed
so fast and furious that I thought I was going to rupture a tendon in my
forearm. Alas, some lucky teenager in Plainfield won the tickets.
Laugh if you must but I have fallen in love with Colbie Caillat and her hit
song "Bubbly." It brings a smile to my face every time I hear it. From the
first chord I get this feeling of joy that, well, "starts in my toes,
makes me crinkle my nose, wherever it goes, I always know that" it makes
me smile.
Here's how far I have fallen. A few months ago I posted a slide show on
my blog with pictures of some of the kids in our church basketball
program. I decided that I was going to add a contemporary song to it and
make it a music video. I chose "Bubbly." Beaming ear to ear, I brought up
the page to show my daughter. She watched it and as soon as she heard
the song, she groaned, "Dad, that's your favorite song but that's not the
kind of music the boys listen to!"
At mid day on Monday the concert line was open again and I grabbed my
phone and did my best to dial up a couple of free tickets. I tried and tried
and tried again. Each time I hit either a busy signal or a recording telling me
that all circuits were busy. One time the phone rang and I thought I had
hit the jackpot. This was it. My prayer was going to be answered. The
phone rang and rang and rang. I began rehearsing what I was going to say
when they told me I had won the tickets. Fifteen rings. Twenty rings. At
twenty five rings I began to think that maybe I had dialed the wrong
number. Then I heard the deejay announce that a girl from Baltic had won
the ticket.
I resigned myself to the fact that you had to be pretty lucky to get through
and today was not my lucky day. So when I got back to church I decided
to go online and listen to "Bubbly" on the computer. As I sat at my desk the
thought hit me that my frustration in trying to get through to the radio
station was the same feeling a lot of people have when they try to get
through to God. Prayer is a mystery for us. We all pray when something in
our life goes wrong. We sometimes pray when there is something that we
really want. We often pray when we don't know what else to do. The truth
is that most of the time we come away from this experience not knowing
if our prayers were heard.
Well here is the Good News. God always hears our prayers. Even if they
aren't acknowledged or answered right away, the Bible tells us that God is
faithful and true. He receives the prayers of people like you and me. God
cares about us. It has always amazed me the many different ways that God
has answered my prayers. When I look back over my life, I have seen
God's presence in so many situations, people and opportunities. I didn't
always recognize them at the time, but God was there.
The truth is that I won't be going to the Colbie Caillat concert because I
couldn't get through but I can listen to her anytime by just plugging in my
I-pod. In the same way God promises that He will be with us always. You
pray and He will be there. Close your eyes and you'll feel Him. It just might
bubble up from your toes to your nose or wherever it goes. So go ahead
and pray.
God bless! See you in church. Cal
Pastor Cal Lord writes these weekly epistles to
help us see God in every day things.
help us see God in every day things.
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