Most people realise quickly that God is not like Santa Claus; even if each Christmas morning I check the drive-way for the sudden appearance of an ocean blue Aston Martin DB5. Even the next step in prayer of negotiating it down to a second hand, high mileage pick-up truck with a slight oil leak that would see me through to my 70’s; did not meet with success. 

We can feel at times that some people are jumping the queue when it comes to blessings, that our prayers are stuck in God’s spam folder somewhere and in a spirit of false comparison we feel a bit left behind. But if you take a long view what is revealed may be quite unexpected. 

An acquaintance of mine, a prayerful man to begin with, was given the opportunity to have a business in his chosen field. He did everything in prayer, from applying for contracts, to suppliers, to staff; each meeting or letter he wrote would be under God’s guiding hand. He did well. From being an employee he was catapulted to success, multimillion Peso contracts flowed in like a river and profits with them. At what point things changed I don’t know. He acquired property, vehicles, houses, luxuries, holidays and entered into ventures without seeking God’s  guidance and things started to fall apart. Bad payers squeezed the cash flow, unexpected tax bills, and his integrity in money matters was compromised. During that time, periodically he turned back to God, who bailed him out; then he would repeat his folly and back to repentance and so on. It’s an old story of lacking the character to rule the kingdom. Perhaps it’s part of his learning curve. 

So as I stand at the bus-stop with my new top-notch umbrella (rainy season is beginning) I can measure things differently. It’s been 15 years since I had to change a tire, since an unwelcome insurance renewal landed on the mat, since I bought a gallon of diesel or had trouble parking. I have non-the-less travelled thousands of miles to some of the most remote and beautiful places in the country and rather enjoyed the challenge of planning adventures with logistical obstacles, I’ve been on bus, jeep, tricycle, walked and hitched. I am blessed because He disregards the prayers that will bring me harm somehow, even if I don’t understand the why of it. 

Would we rather have God’s gifts and troubles or God Himself and peace of mind?