“Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.”
Psalm 20:7
Cars are very important to our daily life in the UK; like our legs, they take us to different places – whether to drop off or pick up our children at or from school, go to work or shopping. Cars give us convenience and make our lives so much easier. Thankfully I have a car, my dear “partner”, to help me with my ministry, visitation and long journeys to Reading to see my family. However, over the past three months some problems occurred one after another with my car. Firstly, the pipes in its aging cooling system burst, then overheating twice. Fortunately, every time it happened, I was with my family, and we stayed safe and experienced deeper the heavenly peace endowed by the Lord! We also gained valuable knowledge and experience on problems that could arise when driving, and better prepared for long-distance drives in the future.
After the third car problem, a church brother asked, “Many people had prayed for you, yet your car still got into problems, how would you explain praying?”
This is a good practical question of faith as well as a good theological question. Here I would like to share my understanding: Why pray? Why do we need others to pray for us? As many things I must face are beyond my control, I could not help but worry – but at the same time, I truly want to rely on God, who is our greatest strength. My praying community is my companion, and their intercession encourages and strengthens my little faith.
The car incident had happened, yet on the roadside my wife and I counted the blessings it brought. Things can turn out to be good or bad, and we reckon that much grace can be accomplished in the process. We can see that God’s powerful hand leads everything and everything works together! I hope that my understanding will help everyone see that God always does wonderful things among us and He is full of grace.
For my family and I to drive my car with peace of mind, I sent my good “partner” back to the car dealer for a full service at the end of August. However, for a long time we were not able to take the car back home. We had not arranged to rent a car for transportation, but I needed to go out to preach on Sundays. While I usually do not want to bother others, but in the end, I still needed brothers from a church to pick me up and drop me off. This let me experience God’s wonderful arrangement. In the car, my wife and I shared our determination to serve God with another couple. The church brother talked about the difficulties and inadequate support in serving young people. I was able to get a better understanding of others’ actual needs and try to think of ways to help them and work together to serve God. If we had driven to and from church as usual, we really would not have had this precious opportunity to listen to the needs of our brothers and sisters.
We modern people can rely on powerful tools, such as cars, computers, mobile phones, and the Internet, to help us accomplish many tasks, but this might cause us to forget the more reliable and powerful God, and the precious brothers and sisters He has given us. May everyone learn to trust God more and become some help to others!
Rev. Alex Yip