Matthew 7:7 - "[Jesus said,] 'Ask, and it will be given to you.'"
We promised we'd tell, so I'm tellin'.
I'd just finished grabbin' a very quick bite of lunch at Tony's on my way to Shelby hospital. And when I walked out the Tony's door, there was a come-out-of-nowhere monsoon comin' down. The wind was also kickin' up, so the rain was gettin' blown back under the 12 feet of sidewalk cover. So this other Tony's customer, who I'd never met, and I just kind of looked at each other like "there's no way I'm goin' out in that."
But then, like the exact same time, we looked at each other and said, "Let's pray!" We introduced ourselves, and Terry and I started havin' a good ol' time. We told the Lord how great we think he is. We told him that Terry had to get back to work, and I had to get to the hospital. We reminded him that we were two or more gathered in Jesus' name, so we were claimin' his promises to hear our prayer and stop the rain NOW!!!
And we also promise God that if he does stop the rain, then both of us will glorify Him and tell a whole bunch of people what he did.
And that's when big ol' Jemaine (who we'd never met) stepped out of Subway, so we asked his name and told him to start prayin' too. And he did!
And then Matt (who we'd never met) stepped out of Tony's, so we asked his name and told him to start prayin' too. And he did!
And then Steve.
And then Cordell.
And then Joe.
And we're all just a bunch of men who are strangers until now, lookin' like a bunch of fools, and we're talkin' to God very winsomely while our eyes are open so we can look at the monsoon to see if God's doin' anything about it.
And then we catch a glimpse. The rain starts slowin'. And we all start goin' crazy with cheers for God. And we realize that now there's about 20 people out on this Subway/Tony's sidewalk, and everybody's smilin' and cheerin' for God, and smack-talkin' the monsoon because the monsoon is under God's Lordship. And we're just havin' a grand ol' time.
And you could just tell that we all realized that we don't even care about the monsoon anymore.
Now it was just the sheer joy of a sidewalk prayer meetin' breakin' out with 20 strangers on a lunchtime sidewalk in Pelham, Alabama.
The rain didn't quite stop, but we didn't care because even better than true to his word was the fact that we jovially asked God to stop some rain, and he gave us 19 new friends in Christ instead. We asked God for one thing. And He gave us somethin' better.
Like always.
"[Jesus said,] 'Ask, and it will be given to you.'" (Matthew 7:7)
Praise God!
Pastor Chris
"The gospel is the story of Jesus [what God's only Son has done for us that we can't do for ourselves], spoken as a promise." - Robert Jenson
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