Help?

The other day I found myself disabling our air conditioning fans to clean them. A friend of mine had recommended this and offered to help me do so. I said no-thank-you, only to find on our older unit a frustrating reconnect w/ a screw that wasn’t visible during its disconnect. After sweating what seemed to be an eternity of “doing the Cabbage Patch” at a Milli Vanilli concert, I called Amazing Dave and asked if he would help me put Humpty Dumpty back together again. Asking for help is an amazing concept/not unlike men asking for directions when we are seemingly “lost” and need help finding our way. I was surprised to find that having Dave in my presence allowed me to see the connective issue clearer, and the problem was resolved in about two minutes.

It’s interesting to me to note how often our immediate reaction during times of conflict is to say, “no thank-you, I’ll do it myself.” My youngest son, Cole, who is three, has been going through a phase during the last two weeks of asking me questions as to whether or not I’ve “always done things” or not. When we play Lego Indiana Jones together, he’ll ask me after the fact, “Dad, do you always play Indiana Jones w/ me?” Cole is learning communication. He’s identifying patterns and conditions that he sees acted out by us, and is responding verbally as a means of understanding.

So too, do I need to develop better communication w/ my heavenly Father. I, all too often enough, ask Him way after the fact, “Lord, do you always care about and send me Your solutions to my struggles?” When Amazing Dave came over, I found that I was actually able to lend an ear to him when he needed to talk about issues in his current relationship. So, in asking for help from Dave, I was also able to extend help to him. I see a principle in that asking God for help sooner than later extends my help to others, so I can pass on how the God of the Bible is in the business of helping today in the 21st century.

We read in 2 Corinthians chapter One: 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.