Jodi and I have a favorite parking place in the parking garage at Mira Flores mall in Guatemala City. We drive a Chevy Suburban and I just have to say that most parking lots here were not made for a vehicle that size. So, our favorite spot is on the end of a row and it doesn’t require trying to fit into one of those little parking places.
Tonight as we drove into the parking garage, there weren't many spaces left. This week is Semana Santa and many people have the week off of work. Apparently tonight, most of the people who live in Guatemala were either in Antigua (our first choice for dinner but a million extra people this week made that out of the question) or Mira Flores’ parking garage. We followed the traffic around the garage looking for a space. As soon as one opened, three cars were there to fill it up. It wasn't looking good for us. Jodi and I were telling her parents, who are here visiting us, about how nice it is to park in “our” space. While we were waiting, I began praying that we could park there. As we came around to where we could see our space, we could see a car in it. Traffic was moving very slow and we had plenty of time to longingly look at our space and dream about parking in it. As we got close, somebody came out of the mall and started walking toward the little blue car in our space. They unlocked the doors on their car and the lights flashed on the little blue car which we were now right beside. They got in the little blue car, I let them pull out in front of me, my father in law got out to help me pull in and we were parked.
The odds of us being in that spot at that time, while those people of all of the thousands of people in the mall were getting into that one car out of the thousands of cars, and that car being in our space out of the thousands of spaces in that garage is mind boggling. I calculate those odds at somewhere around the same as getting hit by lightning at the exact time you win the lottery at the exact time you get bit by a mosquito carrying west Nile virus.
We weren’t playing the lottery in a swamp while it was storming though, we just asked our Father a simple request and he granted it. To me, He was just letting me know that He's got my back in something seemingly insignificant as a parking place. If He’s got my back there, He’s got my back in the much bigger issues in life. He’s not limited to just helping one person at a time either. While He’s answering my parking place prayer, He’s answering the prayers of my friends going through a tough time. He’s answering the prayers of my friends who are making plans to move to Southeast Asia as missionaries. He’s answering the prayers of our friends here in Buena Vista who have hungry kids and no food or work. You get the point. While we serve a big God, we serve a God who cares for us and loves us enough to give us a parking place when we ask. So ask.
The odds of us being in that spot at that time, while those people of all of the thousands of people in the mall were getting into that one car out of the thousands of cars, and that car being in our space out of the thousands of spaces in that garage is mind boggling. I calculate those odds at somewhere around the same as getting hit by lightning at the exact time you win the lottery at the exact time you get bit by a mosquito carrying west Nile virus. We weren’t playing the lottery in a swamp while it was storming though, we just asked our Father a simple request and he granted it. To me, He was just letting me know that He's got my back in something seemingly insignificant as a parking place. If He’s got my back there, He’s got my back in the much bigger issues in life. He’s not limited to just helping one person at a time either. While He’s answering my parking place prayer, He’s answering the prayers of my friends going through a tough time. He’s answering the prayers of my friends who are making plans to move to Southeast Asia as missionaries. He’s answering the prayers of our friends here in Buena Vista who have hungry kids and no food or work. You get the point. While we serve a big God, we serve a God who cares for us and loves us enough to give us a parking place when we ask. So ask.
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