There is much that delighted Charlie’s heart as a young child, but the Christmas season brought for him, the anticipation of riding the Christmas train. An annual event that is repeated for several weeks, it allows the child in all of us to travel to the North Pole (uhh, temporarily relocated in Southern California), take pictures with Santa and share Christmas wish-lists, listen to Mrs. Claus tell a Christmas story and maybe even get a warm hug after being a good listener. The train takes us to Santa and lets us enjoy lights and decorations too, even climb up in Santa’s big sleigh.
Charlie’s delight though could be shut down if a steady rain threatened to drench everything that was part of his special event. And with pre-paid tickets for a set time, it is very difficult to re-schedule. Charlie has known that disappointment, and this particular year, rain was already in the forecast. He knew he could pray and ask for God’s help, but for Charlie, his prayer was innocently centered on the child he was. Charlie, God may have others wanting and needing rain, and God will do what God in His wisdom knows is best. It’s still okay though to ask God for His help, and then we just wait and see. So, Charlie prayed, and so did I, and so did others. The forecast didn’t change, and the morning hours of Charlie’s day had us all wondering, but still we prayed. Charlie rode the Christmas train that day, and I knew God had decided that the best for that day was to let a young boy know his God cared – closely, personally, up close.
Hagar had faced the consequences of her own choices and the choices of others, but she knew the God who watched her was the God who cares. She wandered aimlessly in the wilderness, alone with her young son, and soon believed they would probably both die there. God’s care overflowed as He provided for both of them. Hannah was heavy with the grief of barrenness, and God responded to her desperate pleas, giving her the baby she named Samuel. Jesus compassionately walked over to the coffin of a young man who was the only son of his widowed mother. In recognition of not only the widow’s immediate loss, but also its long term consequences, Jesus told the dead boy to sit up, and the boy went home with his mother. Both the scorned Samaritan woman who seemed to randomly flit from relationship to relationship and the accused woman caught in the act of adultery, crouched beneath the angry, demanding cries of her accusers – both women met the caring compassion of Jesus. The Psalms frequently reference God’s care and provision. The Lord is a shelter for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble. Those who know your name trust in you, for you, O Lord, do not abandon those who search for you.
In my own week, I am walking another year without my daughter who died at birth. But my heart is drawn too to others I love who are also walking through anniversaries this week – the husband who died prematurely, the wife who passed and left behind a husband who had given himself so fully to assisting with the outreach she was having, the infant who tasted so briefly of life in the family who loved her. And there is the young wife who testifies so vibrantly of the God who cares, even while her husband struggles with cancer. And all in one week, amidst the busyness, there is the cough and flu and ear ache, a brother with surgery, questions about relationships, young people making life choices, and this year, my own sister who gives her tears to God, while she desperately cries out for the healing of her husband’s body. O God, I lean desperately into Your care, for there are no other options. You love, You give, You stay right beside me. You bend down and listen, and You respond with an intensity that reminds me so clearly, You care.
– Bev
(Related Bible reading: Psalm 9:9.10; Psalm 23:1-6; Psalm 40:1-3; Psalm 63:1-8; Psalm 116:1,2)
