The challenge of walking with the God who knows me
Names changed throughout except in some cases where the person involved has been or is in ministry.
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If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. 2 Cor 5:17
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Joel 2:32
“Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
Our daughter Hannah did not seem to like Jesus. She was quite plain about this. Whenever we prayed or did anything spiritual, she would remind us of the fact that she did not like him. Of course we did not rebuke her for this attitude, if that was her opinion we would prefer to know about it rather than force it into suppression. Her brothers took a rather different line, and it was not uncommon to hear our zealous sons seeking to convert her. At some times it reached such a level that we had to intervene to protect her.
One day, we were driving across England on the Motorway. Jeremy our son opened his window and the most precious object in Hannah’s world flew out. It was ‘Cuddly Bear,’ the bear that she had gravitated to as a child and now of course could not go to sleep without him. It was not the kind of bear we would have chosen – Bright red and white, with a rather irritating bell inside, but it was the one Hannah loved.
We stopped the car and pulled over on to the hard shoulder. We could see the bear about 100M back between the 1st and 2nd lanes being buffeted by the cars. It was gradually being blown down the white line in the middle. If it was blown to one side, then sure enough another car would come to blow it back again. It seemed to me to be useless to go back. I was not prepared to allow anyone onto the carriageway to retrieve it, the traffic was fairly heavy and a bear was not worth a life. Eva however persuaded me to back up so that we were level with it. We sat there and watched it for some minutes being buffeted forwards but never sufficiently sideways to escape.
After a while I turned to Hannah and said “Hannah, you always say that you don’t like Jesus, but now he is the only one who can get cuddly bear back for you. Do you want to pray to him and ask him to help?” Hannah replied that she did, so we lead her in a short prayer of apologies for not liking him and asking for her bear back.
The prayer was just finished when a huge lorry passed. The wind from the lorry set cuddly bear into a cartwheel motion and he went cartwheeling down the white line at speed. As the energy of the cartwheel began to diminish, the bear turned to the side and cartwheeled off the road. It had just enough energy to leave the carriage way. We could drive up and retrieve it before going on. Thankfully, having been on the white line not much damage had been done. It had been run over a few times but that had only torn and dirtied the material a little. The bell had been crushed, over which I did not cry, but all in all Cuddly Bear was back and safe.
Hannah however was changed. That night Eva led her in a prayer of faith, and from that day she has gone on strong without any sense of not liking Jesus.
As I look at that event, it strikes me how similar we are in our attitudes to God. So often we see Him as getting in our way and spoiling our enjoyment of life. It is only when things become desperate that we are willing to seek Him. It is amazing how patient He is with us and ready to receive us when we call!
CUDDLY BEAR
