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Me: Good day Prodigal and also to your friend!
Prodigal: Good day to you and this is my friend Winter. He had some free time and I was available so we decided to catch up and chat.
Me: There are so many people who I need to catch up with. I think I need to make myself more available.
Prodigal: Yeah it can be tough to be available these days with everyone so busy.
Me: Speaking of available, I just read about Peter Marshall and a story about friendship and availability.
Prodigal: Please share with me and my friend!
Peter Marshall, former chaplain of the U.S. Senate, once remarked that God has equipped us to go deep-sea diving and instead we wade in bathtubs. What makes the difference, I firmly believe, is how seriously we take prayer. I see prayer as the process of becoming available for what God wants to do on earth through us.
Somebody asked me if I’ve ever experienced a bona fide miracle, Oh, yes. Several times. We live in one of the poorest neighborhoods in Chicago. And miracles abound, or we would not be here. I organize work teams to rehab buildings so that homeless and underprivileged people can own their own homes. One day I was working with a sandblaster, with air piped in through my helmet, and the compressor started leaking carbon monoxide, a poisonous gas you can’t taste or smell. I soon passed out. A friend of mine was driving on a highway at the other end of the state and he unmistakably heard God tell him, “Ken, you need to check on Bud.” It seemed so strange and so inconvenient- he was five hours away!-that he passed up the two best routes to Chicago and only after God kept pressing him did he turn back toward Chicago. He found me unconscious, dragged me to a hospital, and literally saved my life.
Why didn’t God speak to someone closer by? Well, maybe God did, to scores of people, but maybe they weren’t listening. My friend Ken made himself available. God wants to do miracles every day through us, if only we make ourselves available.
How many times have we felt that little persistent nudge that God gives us but we dismiss it because we are busy or we think it cannot be that big of a deal. God wants to use you today for a big purpose with a small act of obedience through listening to that small nudge. Take just ten minutes right now. Turn the cell phone off, the computer is off, no music, alone in a room and ask God to confirm that nudge and then act. Then see the glory of God and how he works through all of us and our availability.
Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you. Matt 7:12
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodgialpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
