for good reason...

Let me tell you the small drama of my weekend:

Yesterday I had to play a concert in the afternoon. We had freezing rain and general mess, so I started my car with my automatic starter. I must have hit the "lock" button by accident (which is located just above the "automatic start" button on my little thingie....), which would ordinarily be no problem except that the "unlock" button does not work. This means that I activated the alarm, but had no way of de-activating it. In fact, when I got in my car to the accompanying sirens and whistles and put in the key, the car would not start, as an extra security measure. (I forgot to mention that on my way to the car, I slid on the ice that was covering the driveway and landed smack on my bum. This did not help my overall mental and emotional state....which, I also should mention, was heavily influenced by the amount of pressure I was putting on myself to get all of my work done, and the feeling that I was running out of time....)

I called my friend Heather (in tears) and asked her to come and get me and bring me to the concert. While I was waiting for them to get to my house, my landlady Pam pulled in the driveway. I warned her to not fall as she got out of the car, and she noticed my general state of forlorness. She ended up taking the alarm manual (which I had gone back inside to find), my keys, and the little thingie that was causing all the problems in the first place, assuring me that she and her husband Del would try to figure it out while I was gone.

Heather, Ash, Kate, and Sarah arrived, gathered me into the car with love, and dropped me off at school, but not before I realized that I had handed all of my keys to Pam, including my office key. This would ordinarily not be a problem, except that my music for the concert was in my office, and my office was locked. Heather and her family went back to my house, got my keys from Del, who was sitting in my car with all of the sirens going off, and brought them back to me.

The concert began. When I took my bow, I noticed that Pam and Del were sitting in the audience. Turns out their daughter was involved in one of the choirs performing. Afterward we found each other. I said "How is my car?" Pam said "We're taking you to dinner, we'll talk about it then". Turns out, they had had no luck. Turns out my car was still un-driveable, a veritable mess of sirens and whistles.

We returned home after they successfully distracted me with thai food. Del, in a last-ditch effort before we called Toyota services, tried to get the unlock connection on my broken little thingie to connect with a safety pin. He tried a few times to no avail, and then--SUCCESS!! Alarm de-activated, car starts, no sirens, no whistles. All is well. I almost kissed him, but restrained myself. The end.

A small drama to be sure, but let me tell you something:

I am a strong, independent woman. I pride myself on handling anything that comes my way, except when it comes to my car. If there is a problem with my car it can leave me weeping for days. It really isn't pretty.

I was impressed, however, by the degree of the love that my friends showed me. Impressed, because it reflects to me the love that God has for me. Impressed in the sense of when you impress your fingerprint into a pile of cookie dough or some such malleable surface. My heart has been impressed upon.

It was a timely reminder, because in this Advent season I have been reflecting on passages in Isaiah that speak to God's purpose and His design. I highly recommend chapters 9, 11, 40, 41, 43, 45, 49, and then pretty much the rest of it (sorry, I couldn't decide where to end...). As friends deal with hard issues much more difficult than my car having a psychotic alarm system, such as watching loved ones whose lives are being threatened by severe health problems, dealing with disappointment in people they thought they knew, struggling to balance the realities of life with their own expectations of what things would be, I am reminded:

This is what the LORD says:

"In the time of my favor I will answer you, and in the day of salvation I will help you...

I will turn all my mountains into roads...

I will not forget you!

See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands." (Is. 49)

There is a song by Sara Groves that has become meaningful to my heart, as I've wished I could carry the burdens of the people I love in the past few months:

we were pressed on every side

full of fear and troubled thoughts

for good reason we carried heavy hearts

it is good to come together

in our friendship to remember

all the reasons hope is in our hearts

hallelujah hallelujah

Christ our joy and strength

hallelujah hallelujah

Christ our joy and strength

now with patience in our suffering

perseverance in our prayers

with good reason this hope is in our hearts


You see, Christ engraved us on His palms when He died.

He did it on purpose.

He is impressed with us. He wants us to know it.

For good reason, joy is in our hearts.