Prior to my wife and I moving to Hobart from Sydney in 2017, we did a fair bit of research on Tasmania. One of the things we quickly learned was that Tasmania had some amazing mountain bike trails.
Having never owned a bike before, and being keen to get the most out of our Tassie experience, we decided to purchase two mountain bikes that we brought down with us.
Our first rental was in Snug, and after speaking with some locals, we learned that the Peter Murrell Reserve was pretty close to where we were living and had some good mountain bike trails. So, off we went. In the spirit of “carpe diem”, we had not only purchased two rather expensive bikes, but also had all of the “kit” to go with these bikes – the Lycra body suits, the helmets, the shoes and some camel backpacks that we thought would not only be great to keep some snacks in and water for hydration, but also our iPhones and the keys to our car.
“We started our search and after about 40 minutes, we were ready to give up”
After riding around the trails for a couple of hours, and stopping regularly to capture the moment on our phones, we decided to call it a day and head back home. You can imagine my shock when we returned to our car and I realised that I couldn’t find the keys! You see, the tiny compartment that I had placed the car keys in (in my fancy backpack!) was also the tiny compartment that I had placed my phone in, which I had opened and closed about a dozen times over the course of the morning and over I don’t know how many kms! With panic in my voice, I told Steph that I’d lost the keys and that we’d need to retrace our steps, realising as I said those words how daunting and futile this task would be. Well, we started our search and after about 40 minutes, we were ready to give up. (I now have a deeper appreciation for the phrase “finding a needle in a haystack”!)
As we were about to head back to the car and call someone to come and pick us up, I paused, and thought to myself – “I’m a Christian, right? I believe in a God of miracles, don’t I? And surely if I believe that God is the God of the impossible, wouldn’t finding our keys be a relatively easy task for Him?” So, standing in the middle of the reserve at the top of one of the trails, I prayed out loud “Lord, thank you that you are the God of the impossible, and thank you that you care about your children, in both the big things and the small things. Lord, I pray right now in faith that you will help us find our keys”. No sooner had I finished my prayer and opened my eyes, I noticed someone at the bottom of the hill and realised they were running up the hill, holding something up in the air and calling out to us. It turned out to be someone who had been running the trail and had come across our keys and was trying to chase us down to return them to us! I have never forgotten this experience.
One thing this experience challenged me on, is that although I know that I serve a God who cares about every aspect of my life, the big and the small, how often (if I’m honest), do I make the mistake of only turning to God as a last resort? As Christians, we should be turning to God as our first resort – our “Plan A”, not our “Plan B” or even our “Plan C”! For the past few months, I’ve been having some pretty big car issues, with warning lights on my dash being a common occurrence!
“We can also be confident that we can boldly approach His throne when we are in need of a major breakthrough”
Last week, my little Jeep finally gave up the fight and I had to get it towed to a car dealership. After the dealer (who I won’t name, although I am sorely tempted to!) had failed to return my many calls over a period of four days to try and find out what the status of my car was, only to tell me when I finally decided to turn up in person for a “please explain” that they weren’t able to look at it for another two weeks, I decided to take it somewhere else. The only problem was, that it wasn’t really driveable and as I limped (the car had literally gone into “limp mode”!) out onto the Brooker Hwy, the warning lights that had been flashing at me since I had repossessed it from the dealer were accompanied by a spluttering of the engine and a loss of power and I had to pull over to the side of the road.
I called the tow company to see if they could help me out a second time, but they informed me (in the politest of ways) that they were unable to provide a second complementary tow, so I ended the call feeling more than a little frustrated. As soon as I got off the phone, the story of my mountain bike adventure came to my mind. On the side of the Brooker Highway, with people honking their horns and flashing their lights at me, I closed my eyes and prayed “Heavenly father, thank you that I can turn to you when I’m in need. Right now, I pray in the name of Jesus that you will allow me to drive my car to the mechanic.” I finished my prayer, opened my eyes and turned on the ignition. And….no warning light!
I’m aware that there are many staff in our schools who are seeking the Lord for a significant miracle, whether that be a miracle for yourself or for a loved one. As believers, we can be confident that God is able to do exceedingly, abundantly above all that we could ask or think (Ephesians 3:20) and that He is the God of the impossible (Matthew 19:26; Mark 10:27; Luke 18:27). We can also be confident that we can boldly approach His throne when we are in need of a major breakthrough (Hebrews 4:16). However, I encourage each of us (myself included!) to remember that God cares about all aspects of our lives, not just the big things. This means we can turn to Him in the small things (like finding lost keys!) as well as the big. And when we do get answers to our prayers, we also need to remember to give Him thanks, both when we receive the small miracles and the big. Amen?
David Gillman — CEO Christian Schools Tasmania