Newsletter Article
June 2003
“I’ve got it.”
Yesterday I took Stephen to Six Flags. Stephen is my 12 year old son. The trip to Six Flags has turned into an annual event that started when he was 10 so this was the third time to make the trip. I want to tell you about the first time, however. Let me set up the situation for you.
I was facing the loss of my company. My job. My income. I was sure of only one thing. The company would stop paying salary the end of the month and I did not have anything else lined up. I had gotten a pretty clear leading that I was supposed to start my own business but beyond that God was silent about my work. I had put a lot of money into the old business. I had taken a second mortgage out on the house to invest into the old company and now that money was gone too. The debt was not gone, however so that was playing on me as well. Sounds pretty bleak, huh?
I had promised Stephen that I would take him to Six Flags before any of this stuff had really started to develop. Early in the spring when school was out I promised Stephen that we would go. Just him and me and we would ride every roller coaster together. We would stand in the ‘extra’ line so we could ride the front seat of every roller coaster, too. Now at 10 years old that is a big deal. (Heck, it’s a big deal at 46 years old, too.) I had told Stephen that we could go sometime before school started up in the Fall again.
It was now Fall and we were down to the last weekend before school. I could not delay any longer and I now did not know where we were going to get the money we needed to keep going. But I had promised and I planned to keep my word. I had to trust that somehow God was going to keep His too. He did.
At that point in my life I was focused on some of the traits of God and the one that really struck me was that He laughs. If you have seen me in my ‘colors’ you have seen the button I wear that shows Jesus laughing. I like to use that picture to start up conversations about God and to use it as a witnessing tool. I carry small pictures to give out to others and I even have a tee shirt that has the picture really large on the front. If you have never seen the picture you can go to www.jesuslaughing.com and get a taste of this wonderful image. Anyway, I had gotten a distinct leading to wear that shirt to the park that day, so I did.
Stephen and I had gotten the Coke cans that offered $15.00 off the admission price so we could save some money and we were off to the park. Stephen I am sure was thinking about the roller coasters but I was thinking about the money. As we stood in line to buy our tickets I was lost in that contemplation of the money and I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around and looked at the women who tapped me and she pointed over to the right and said “She wants to talk to you”. I looked over and here is another woman smiling at me and she says “I like your shirt! How many tickets do you need?” I smiled back and said thanks for the comment about my shirt and then said that we were buying two tickets. She handed me two coupons and then was gone.
As we moved up in the line I was looking at the coupons to see what was the better deal, the coupons or the Coke cans. Before I got it figured out it was our turn at the window. I handed the person behind the glass the coupons and asked what they were worth. She looked at me and said that they were free passes to the park and for us to have a nice day.
I was shocked to say the least. Here I was worrying about what I would eat or what I would wear or where I would live and here was God saying to me “I’ve got it”. He says that He will meet our needs. I look at God as a father who will do things for us just because he loves us. It gives Him joy to take care of us and to see us smile. My point is that we can count on Him to meet our every need and some of our wants too. I have been able to use that experience with Stephen to teach a few lessons about God and how much He loves us. To talk about luck and how it really is God in control of things, not just luck. I am sure that the lessons are not over. I still find myself worrying about money sometimes but I get to look back at this experience and recall how God took care of my son and me just to teach me that He is in control and that I should just let Him take care of it.
I hope that there are times in your life that you can look back at and see the hand of God in your life. I see many such stories in the bible about God taking care of His people and I see evidence of that care today. He can be trusted. ” Proverbs 3:5 and 6 – Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding ; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.”
In His Grip,
Jerry Robertson
Chaplain