At 3:50 I was told of a 4:00 meeting with my pastor in San Lucas. I rushed up there to find no one there and the pastor not answering his phone. I called the other attendee who told me the meeting was at 5:30 at another location. I arrived there and the meeting still did not start until about 6:30 and finished a little after 7pm. This is how Guatemala normally works but my only fear was that I now had to ride my morotcycle home in the dark, in the rain, on a road under construction. On my ride home I was genuinely scared (similarly to a previous ride home in the dark and rain) and I asked the Lord for help. No sooner than the words had left my mouth that I drove through a pot-hole which splashed me with cold water. A few moments later a truck splashed me and then a car next to me splashed me. I prayed out loud again frustrated with the Lord saying, “Lord… I need your HELP! Are you going to or not.” I was reminded of Luke 14:26 which says, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father, mother…even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.” My mind was brought to my willingness to suffer while God asked me why I had gone up to San Lucas, waited and endured the meeting knowing this would probably be my fate. My answer was, “for you.” Then who are you suffering for? God! It hit me that I was given the privilege to suffer for God. Imagine if the scripture in Luke 14 said instead, “If anyone comes to me and is not willing to be splashed with water…cannot be my disciple.” Splashed with water! Tell me you wouldn’t laugh. Of course I am willing to be splashed with water…there are much worse things to suffer for His name and if I can suffer for Him just by being splashed with water, bring it on! Right at that moment the rain stopped and I was not splashed again the rest of my trip and to be honest when I arrived at home I was a little disappointed that there was no more rain or splashing that I could “endure” for Christ.
Many times I serve God expecting God to help me in return but when bad things happen right after my service my tendency is to complain to God “thanks for nothing” rather than rejoice in being able to suffer for God and accept it as a gift because trials produce…mature and complete Ja1:1,4 and because suffering produces…character and character, hope… Rom5:3-5 They are the road to my goal.
-Eric
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If I pray for help and get splashed with water I like to think it was to wake me up and keep me alert for something. An old friend told me a story one time about a gentleman who had a flat tire on a bridge on a cold, dark, rainy night. He cursed his "luck" as he changed the tire. Later he saw the bridge had failed. If he had not stopped to change the flat, he would have driven off the bridge into the freezing lake.
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