"Guess I'll be having 'church' in Walmart this morning..." I text my sister. It had been a frustrating 12 hours. After spending most of the previous 3 months in Ohio I just returned back home to Indianapolis the evening prior. As I was unpacking my car in the driveway I realized my back tire was flat...like, the-rim-was-sitting-on-the-driveway flat. Great. A flat tire. I drove back Saturday evening so I could be back in time to go to church Sunday morning and the church picnic, and reconnect with church friends I had not seen all summer. "No problem" I thought, "at least I'm not stranded on the road with a flat tire at 10pm. My car is sitting in the driveway and I can go to bed. I'll just call AAA in the morning, have them put my spare on and I'll be off to church. I can deal with this tire thing on Monday. No problem..."
After realizing my AAA membership had expired and restarting it online, I called AAA the next morning. He would be at my house in 35 minutes...great, I can still make it to church on time. I'll just spend a little time reading my Bible and drinking my coffee in the back yard until he comes. He arrives as expected, but can't get my tire off (unfortunately I have been here before with this issue). He kindly puts air in the tire so I can drive it somewhere to get it fixed. Quick, who's open on a Sunday morning to fix tires??! I remember there's a Walmart 5 minutes away with an auto center and I'm off. Not how I envisioned this morning in my head, but I'll just be late to church. "No problem??"
Thankfully they're open and not busy on a Sunday morning. I'll grab a couple things and wait while they fix it. Just as I'm grabbing a container of those small muffins that look too glistening to be edible I hear my name called to return to the Auto Center. They got the tire off, but can't fix the flat. But they can put a new tire on. Quick decision making is not my forte, but I'm stuck. I just want to get to church! Yes, put the new tire on. "This was not my plan for the morning..."
After grabbing a couple items I return to the waiting area. I look at my phone...church is now 30 minutes in. I'll probably miss the whole service; at least I'll make it for the lunch. As I'm grumbling in my heart, sending texts, estimating what time I'll arrive, I'm also questionning why I even drove back to Indy last night. I should have just stayed in Ohio for the evening and driven back on Sunday. Then I hear the 'still small voice'...the daily Scripture on my phone's Bible app was still on my screen. "This God - His way is perfect; the word of the Lord proves true; He is a shield for all those who take refuge in Him." (Psalm 18:30). "This God - His way is perfect" I thought.
I take a deep breath, set down my phone, open my Bible to Psalms and begin to read, asking Him what He might have for me in this momentary inconvenience of a flat tire on a Sunday morning and having 'church' right there in the Auto Care waiting room of Walmart. Why is it that a little thing like an unexpected flat tire can suddenly make me feel as though my entire day is ruined? Why is an unexpected change in my expectations for my weekend, or just morning, cause for questionning my every decision?
Six days prior I had just led a devotional for a group of ministry team leaders, sharing with them what the Lord taught me over the course of the summer through the book of Jonah. One of those lessons was His grace and compassion for the mariners who are on the ship with Jonah, the easily overlooked 'bystanders' in this story. I had been asking the Lord to show me the 'easily overlooked bystanders', the 'mariners' in my life that are all too easy to blow right by because I am too focused on my own agenda or schedule or task. Yet here I was once again paying no attention to those in front of and around me because my day had escaped from my plans, from my control (as if it was ever under my 'control'!).
"I need to be thankful" I thought. I pulled out my journal and began to write each place that I could thank Him from the last 12 hours...
"Thank you that I made it home safely last night. Thank you for AAA this morning. Thank you for making it to Walmart, who was both close and open this morning. Thank you for providing for me financially to purchase AAA online last night and a tire this morning. Thank you in advance for this day..."
I had 'church' in Walmart. Jesus met me there, in the midst of the everyday, in the midst of my self-centeredness and my desire for control.
Oh, and I did make it to lunch and it was a beautiful Sabbath day. It wasn't the day I planned, but His ways are perfect, not mine.
