It must be magic!

My kids learnt from a fairly early age two important lessons in life:

1. There is probably no such thing as magic

2. Mum really does not know everything

One of the ways in which they learnt this was from my total inability (and unwillingness) to have any understanding of how the internal combustion engine works.  “Mum, how does the car work?” “Magic!”  Funnily enough, when they asked dad, they got a different answer.

The TV and the internet also work by magic. Just in case you were wondering.

There is a faith lesson in my complete failure to understand how things work – and my complete lack of interest in finding out.  There are faith lessons all over the place really, but this was one that struck me today when I read what Paul had to say about Abraham’s faith in Romans 4, verses 18 and 21: “Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed..” “being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.”

Abraham was prepared to trust God the Promise Giver because he knew that God was also the Promise Keeper.  God made Abraham some pretty unbelievable promises, and yet he was absolutely convinced that (a) God was able by his power to do what he had said, and therefore (b) God would do it because he always does what he says he will.  It all sounds so simple in theory, but in practice I find that I lack something in respect to this kind of faith.  Don’t get me wrong, I am absolutely convinced that God has more than sufficient power to do everything he promises, and I am equally convinced that he never goes back on a promise.  My problem is this: I want to know how, when and why.

Perhaps this is a kind of post-Enlightenment thing?  Maybe, back in the Middle Ages, people were less obsessed with knowing exactly how everything works and why it works the way it does.

But anyway, this is where the whole car thing comes in.  It struck me that even though I have absolutely no idea how a car works, I am more than happy to get in, turn the key and trust this magical metal box to take me from A to B by the power of the magical liquid that I pour into it at the petrol station.  (Although if you pour the wrong magical liquid in, things soon go wrong… take it from me!) It is enough for me that somebody somewhere, and hopefully somebody in the factory that made my car, does understand the way this works.  I am happy to take that on trust and just get on with it.

So, if I am happy to trust my life and luggage to something I don’t understand, cobbled together by mere mortals, without having to know exactly how and why this works, why do I struggle to trust God fully to keep his promises and to provide for my needs without having to know exactly how and why he is going to work this out?

How does a car work? I don’t know.  It just does.

How is God going to work out his promises?  I don’t know.  He just will.  And unlike my car, he never fails, never grows old and unreliable, never breaks down, never rusts, breaks or becomes redundant.

And just to prove that internet research will answer all your questions… thanks to Google I now do know exactly how a car works.  I just don’t know where they’ve hidden that big key on mine.  Ah, got it… it’s hidden inside and is turned by the fairies who drink the petrol.  Or diesel.  Which is why if you have diesel fairies they have a big sulk if you put petrol in. See, I told you it was magic!

Six impossible things before breakfast…

Alice laughed: “There’s no use trying,” she said; “one can’t believe impossible things.”
“I daresay you haven’t had much practice,” said the Queen. “When I was younger, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”  (Alice in Wonderland)

I loved Alice in Wonderland when I was a child.  I think it appealed to my highly developed sense of the ridiculous.  This quote was always a favourite and it came back to me this morning as I was thinking over the powerful teaching we were blessed with in church yesterday.  We had a visit from Will Loescher who has been a pastor for many years, but who is currently at Cambridge studying for a PhD in Acts. He was encouraging us to have “Courage in Witnessing” in the morning and “Courage in Prayer” in the evening.  I was challenged by how little faith I have in prayer and how seldom I pray big, bold, audacious prayers, rooted in Scripture and inspired by the Spirit.  And yet, when we do pray big prayers, how often we are blessed by God with an even bigger answer.

The Queen in Alice in Wonderland had practiced until she was capable of believing as many as six impossible things before breakfast.  Well, lady, you ain’t seen nothing yet… My God is capable of doing way way more than six impossible things before breakfast, every single day.  And he does.  We don’t always see them, but in the lives of his people around the world, our God is daily doing millions of impossible things.  Before breakfast. After breakfast. And throughout the day, 24/7, 365 days a year (and 366 in a leap year).

This morning, before breakfast… well, technically it was after some family members had had breakfast, and before others had even woken up (naming no names, but we do have a teenager on a sixth form timetable), God provided one more of the impossible things on our list.  We had an email from a lady who owns a house in Fish Hoek accepting our tenancy application on her property, which ticks all our boxes, and then some.

There is fairly long story behind this house, and it is a story which I love because it tells of the goodness and provision of God for his people.  I’ll try to abridge this a little…

Last Monday, I had four separate emails telling me about a house which was advertised on gumtree.  One was my gumtree alert.  The other three were from lovely ladies, sisters in the Lord, who are looking for houses for themselves, but are keeping me in mind as they search.  This house was a perfect match for size and budget, and was within school catchment, but there were no internal photos, and I had no idea whether or not it was within safe walking distance from the school. So really, what I needed was somebody on the ground locally with a daughter in the high school who could look at the house for me and tell me what it was like inside and whether it was ok to walk to school from there.  Of course, I don’t know anyone like that.  But God does.  One of my emails was from a lady I have never met, but who was put in touch with me by the administrator of a Fish Hoek church.

Anyway, it turns out that this lady, Sarah, had already been to see this house for their family a few days previously and had ruled it out as unsuitable for them as their youngest is only 18 months old.  However, she has a daughter in the high school and so part of her viewing process had included checking whether or not it was ok for a 13 year old girl to walk to and from school from there, and it is. She was also able to give me a good verbal picture of the house and enough confidence to follow up with the owner.  I am just blown away by how God knows what we need and how he provided just the right person who had seen the house and could answer the questions as one mother to another.

The owner has been incredibly helpful, including making a trip to the house this weekend to take more internal photos for me. She has answered many questions with good humour and patience, and has decided that she and her husband are happy to rent the house to us.

Some months ago, another one of these three sisters in the Lord had encouraged me to pray bold and specific prayers about the house we felt we needed, and her words had come back to me recently, encouraging me to do just that. I went to God with a relatively brief but very specific list of things that I felt mattered to us in a house and he has answered every single one of them – size, budget, location, spare room… the lot.  I also had a very very bold item on my wish list, so bold that I’m a bit nervous about sharing it here because you may think it was just downright greedy.  But I had a reason for it.  Friends, I prayed for a swimming pool.  I know… that is not the kind of thing that a good missionary does.  But bear with me and listen to my reason, and then I hope you will be able to join me in saying a resounding “God is good”.

For the last six months, Izzy has been struggling with asthma attacks during/after her PE in school.  This came on very suddenly and despite numerous trips to the doctor and no less than three inhalers (two morning and evening and one when she exercises), I have still had to fetch her home from school after PE at least once a week.  A couple of people had mentioned to me that regular swimming at a steady pace could really help with asthma.  So I decided to pray for a pool.   Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t have ruled out  house without a pool, but I knew that from time to time houses in our budget in our area with pools do come along, so I figured I would ask God if this could be one of those times.  Last Thursday, I had the call from school again.  This time, as I pulled up outside reception, an ambulance was already there, blue lights flashing. Izzy was in the medical room, as white as a sheet, shaking like a leaf and being treated by paramedics.  I brought her home, put her to bed and got busy on Google looking up about asthma.  It turns out that what she has is exercise induced bronchospasm, which sounds impressive.  And, yes, swimming would help because of the warm, humid air – assuming you’re not one of those mad people who swims in the Serpentine on Christmas Day!  And the house we have been offered has a pool. Sarah turned the house down because the pool was un-fenced – not good with an 18 month old, not a problem with teenagers, and a heavenly blessing for  teenager with asthma.  Are we all feeling a little more comfortable about my pool prayer? Ask me that in six months when I’ve had to keep the thing clean!

Does it feel weird to be about to sign a lease on a house we have’t actually set foot in? You bet it does.  Do we think it will be perfect in every way? No.  I’ve seen a photo of the kitchen and those tiles are going to take some getting used to!   Do we believe that God has provided us with this house?  Yes, we do.  It fits our restricted budgetary and geographical requirements, it is just the right size, with space for guests to stay. We would have lifted our hearts and voices and praised God for meeting those needs alone, but as he so often does, he has delighted to go above and beyond, and he has given us a house which I really hope will be helpful for Izzy’s health.  Am I a bit excited about how God does impossible things for us?  You bet!  I’ve been turning this over in my mind for the last week, and telling anyone who will stay still long enough to listen, and I am still so excited how he knows my mother heart and provided a lady who also has a mother heart to help me know that this house will be safe.

I’m sorry this has been a bit of a long one – I did warn it was a long story.  In summary: we have a house. It has room for visitors. Come visit. Bring your swimming costume.