One Sunday evening, I left the parking lot of the church where I served, to begin the 50-minute drive to my home. Of course, it was hot, and I cranked up the fan on the car’s air-conditioner. In a minute or two, the air cooled a little, so I reached over to turn the fan down. In a couple of seconds, the air conditioner stopped cooling! The fan was still blowing, but it was getting hotter by the second. I did everything I could to get it cooling again, but to no avail. Finally giving up, I drove on home with the windows down.
The car was fairly new, and I shouldn't have been having trouble that early. In addition, I had spent nearly $2000 for repairs on my son’s car in the last two weeks. By the time I arrived home, I was NOT in a good mood!
The next morning, I got up and drove to work, but even early in the morning, it was very hot. With the windows down, my hair blown about and perspiration dripping from my brow, I made it to work. I was really dreading the drive home: the forecast that day was for 101 degrees, and the thought of getting into that car to drive home was not a pleasant one.
It felt like a furnace! It was a furnace! About half-way home, the sky opened up and the rain fell in a heavy downpour. Happy to get the rain, but–I had to roll the windows up!
Later, I realized that the knob with which you can adjust the fan speed, by turning it right or left, also pushes in–which either turns the air conditioner on or off. I had been driving around in a hot car because I accidentally had turned the air conditioner off. I really felt dumb. What could have been worse: I was planning to take the car into the dealership for repair of my “broken” air conditioner!
I believe that we should learn something from whatever happens, that God wants to use various incidents as opportunities to teach His children something. So what did I learn from this?
1. Sometimes, we cause our own problems.
2. The situation is not always as bad as it looks.
3. In fact, the solution may be just under your nose–or on the dashboard.
4. Learn to laugh at yourself.
In your situation, the problem or difficulty may be much more serious than an air conditioner which has been turned off. However, the principles are the same.
Take a good look at the difficulty you’re in: have you caused the problem or contributed to it in some way? Is it really as bad as it seems, or is God really in control? In your distress, or because of surrounding circumstances, are you overlooking the solution?
And have you learned how to laugh–even if you’re the main reason?
--Rocky Henriques, www.uticabc.com