Dave's Deep Thoughts

Here's Pastor Dave McDowell's weekly devotional that he sends out to members of his church. Dave is my brother and serves as the Music Minister at Stewartstown UMC in PA.

4:48am

That's the time it happened.

I'm talking about the sneeze.

No, not me,

my dog.

He might be allergic to dust,

but his Master is allergic to wake up calls

that occur 90 minutes before sunrise......

I am a light sleeper.

And this was a BIG sneeze.

And so I laid in bed, now wide awake.

4:52am

4:59am

5:03pm

I live by the 15 minute rule....

If I don't fall back to sleep within 15 minutes,

then I am off and running......

well....... off and dragging.

I had a busy day scheduled

and my mind began to race with what I needed to get done.

I was to prepare a family dinner for that evening,

but I needed some items from the grocery store.

Since there was a 24 hour store

just down the road,

I decided that I could make good use

of my extra two hours

by getting a head start on the meal preparations.

I also decided that at 5:25am,

no one cares what you wear to a grocery store.

So off to the store I went wearing what I had worn to bed.....

my flannel pajama pants & T-shirt of my favorite football team.

Add my slippers and I was out the door.

It's dark at 5:25am.....really dark.

I got out of my car and headed for the door of the store.

Excuse me, can you help me?

I didn't see anybody,

but then it was REALLY dark and

I was still half asleep.

Excuse me, do you have jumper cables?

This figure came toward me out of the dark

and I was only armed with a bedroom slipper.

At first I thought it was a man,

but then realized it was woman.......

a very large, masculine looking woman.

Could you give me a jump, she said

as she pointed over to an 18 wheeler on the edge of the parking lot.

I stopped to take a nap,

and she won't start up.

It's the battery.

All I could think about was my dog.

If he hadn't sneezed,

I wouldn't have even been here in a dark parking lot at 5:25am.....

I had many concerns as I

I handed over my jumper cables.

I feared that this monster 18 wheeler

would suck the life out of my compact car battery.

I feared I would get grease on my flannel pajama pants.

I feared that this immense woman

could beat me up in the dark.

(She absolutely could)

As we matched electrodes, she said

This is my first day working for this company

and I need to get to Virginia this morning.

I don't want to lose my job.

Now I felt like a fool.

I live my life bearing the name of Christian,

and here I was regretting this opportunity

I had to serve someone in need.

Her engine turned over.

She thanked me and drove off.

I realized how cold I was

and dashed into the store.

I found it's not easy to dash anywhere in bedroom slippers.

I got my items quickly as the store was virtually empty....

that would be except for the 3 people waiting in the one available checkout line.

Waiting in line is not how I want to start my pre-sunrise day.

Stupid dog! Stupid sneeze! I was thinking....

Especially since the person in front of me

was wearing the shirt of my team's rival.

Nice shirt I said to the woman

in an effort to start some pre-dawn conversation .

Nice pajamas she said to me.

Can't say as much for the T-shirt, she fired back.

We began to engage in small talk as we waited.

She began to explain why she was at the store so early.

Her husband had been diagnosed with cancer,

and she often used the early morning hours

to run errands before her children arose.

Suddenly, my dog sneezing at 4:48am didn't seem like such a big deal.

Small talk had just become soul talk.

I told her I was a pastor and that I would pray for her husband and family.

And then I realized I needed to do more than promise to pray.

I needed to pray for her right there.

We prayed,

there in the checkout line,

at 5:45am.

It is said that God works in mysterious ways....

I'd like to think that he also works in ingenious ways.

A dog sneezing

results in me helping a truck driver keep her job.

A dog sneezing

causes rival fans to drop their pom poms and

see the immense worth of the other.

A dog sneezing

allows me to pray for a family I have never met.

God does work in mysterious and ingenious ways.

We are approaching the season when we celebrate God's mysterious ways.

An angel announces to a common woman that she will bear the Son of God

without ever having been with a man.

The woman's relative who had been previously barren

will bear a child to prepare the way for the coming of the Messiah.

A baby, born in a cattle trough, will change the course of history and humankind.

God often starts in small quiet ways,

and leads to amazing results.

For me it started when the dog sneezed.

How does it start with you?

As for God,

his way is perfect.

Psalm18:30a

.