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This summer I was blessed to be able to take my family with me as I went to minister in Sacramento, California. There is nothing like an extensive, lengthy road trip to build the character of a family as it pertains to their relationships with each other. We spend two weeks in a van traveling from Tulsa through Phoenix and all over the state of California. It was truly a blast!
On the way back from Sacramento we toured Yosemite Park, the next day we went to Six Flags Magic Mountain and then on to Ventura Beach the next day. The beach was supposed to be a short two hour stop. WRONG!! My wife, Shelly and the boys loved the beach! My two youngest sons had never been to an oceanside beach before and so we ended up staying all day. Shelly was in heaven; she was the biggest kid of the group. It was about 3 p.m. when she and the boys realized that we hadn’t eaten. So we piled into the car and drove about a mile to Taco Bell. As I placed my order, I knew we were going to be there a while. The gentleman taking my order was speaking in the worst broken English I had heard the entire trip. After several attempts to order he asked me to pull forward and he would take my order at the window. There I found out that not only did we have a communication problem, (or problemo) but we also had a computer problem. Ten minutes later we had enough of our food that we decided to eat in the parking lot and wait for the rest of our food.
After Shelly finished eating she decided to call her mother in Ohio. My wife, like many women, has the uncanny ability to focus on her conversation and block the rest of the world out. As she dialed I got out of the car and went inside to get the rest of our order and the most important part: Shelly’s Dessert. While I was inside my oldest son, Brayden, told Shelly that he was going to go inside and use the bathroom. When I returned with the food, I climbed into the car and headed back to the beach. Shelly talked to her mom all the way back and the two younger boys kept playing in the back seat. Upon returning to the beach I got out of the car and paid for another hour of parking and then opened the passenger side rear door to dispose of our lunch trash. At that time I noticed that Brayden wasn’t in the car and just assumed that Brayden had done what he often does: wander off. (I have since been informed that this is a common skill among teenagers.) When Shelly finally hung up I asked her where Brayden was and she replied that he was around here somewhere. So we gathered Boston and Baylor (our younger sons) and walked back to the beach. We wandered down the pier and back to our spot on the beach. This took between 30-60 minutes. During this I asked Shelly two or three times where she thought Brayden might be. She told me to relax. (So much for maternal instinct.)
Finally I talked her into splitting up and searching the beach for him. After several minutes I looked up and there he was walking toward me with an angry look on his face. He blurts out, “You left me!” “Excuse me, son, you left us.” I said. “No, Dad you left me in the bathroom!” Now I was thinking that he was talking about the bathroom on the edge of the parking lot at the beach, so I responded, “It took you this long to use the bathroom?” “Dad, you left me in the bathroom at Taco Bell!” he said. I, being the loving father I am, laughed at him because I thought he was kidding. Then when he got angrier I realized that he wasn’t kidding. I was inside Taco Bell; I didn’t even know he had gotten out of the car.
I can’t imagine the panic my son may have experienced when he walked out of Taco Bell, jumped over the hand rail and noticed my car wasn’t there. Imagine, 1600 miles from home and you realize that your parents have abandoned you. Oh well, at least you had dinner with them before they left you. Long story made short, Brayden listened to that still small voice inside him and headed back to the beach. Even though we had left him, God had not. Just as Jesus had promised, He followed through:
“…I will never leave you, even to the ends of the earth”—Hebrews 13:5
I have had days when I felt like not only had God left me and abandoned me, but that He must HATE me. I know that none of you have ever felt like that, but I did. Sometimes we get so focused on the crud in our lives that we feel as though the word of God wasn’t meant for me.
2004 was such a year for me. Every way I turned I was facing some bizarre adversity. I "went through it” at every level. The ministry time with the kids of Kids for Christ USA was my safe haven, but everywhere else I looked I was being pummeled. I had been a part of a church that failed and that was very hard emotionally. To watch your Pastor and your friends suffer emotionally over the course of a six month period was really hard. Right before the church closed its doors I preached a message like this one. I went as far as to say that I think God would rather have you say like Mel Gibson’s character in the movie “Signs,” “I hate you, I hate you, I hate you.” Don’t hit delete yet, what I mean is this: even if you are so angry at God that you’re yelling, "I hate you," you are still talking to Him. You are still acknowledging His presence and still leaving the door open for Him to reach you. Even consciously giving God the silent treatment is an open door for Him to reach you. I once knew of a lady that told God, “I am so mad at you that I am not going to talk to you anymore.” That is exactly what she did for three months. We are funny; we think we can give an all-knowing, all-seeing and continually loving God the silent treatment. Yet He just stands right there with you, never leaving, never forsaking, and always reaching out to you with His love.
I, like many of you have been through hellish circumstances. Situations that my senses told me God couldn’t even help. Guess what? He came through for me and He’ll do it for you too. You have His word on it…He’ll never abandon you, EVER!---bob
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