The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away

I'm really enjoying my job at the moment. Due to the number of activities we are doing each week I'm able to take Wednesdays off. This has led me and my dad to go out for a bike ride each week. Yesterday, we checked the forecast which said heavy showers were due by lunchtime, so we decided to risk it - despite the grey clouds overhead. We had been going for about one hour when the heavens opened - this was not lunchtime as they had predicted. Thankfully, there before us was a large tree - shelter for us from the rain. Isn't God good I marveled. He has provided for us in our need. Soon the shower stopped and we were on our way. However, when we were about 5 miles from home, and heading back along the towpath, the heavens opened once more. This time, it was no passing shower but a persistent deluge. I looked up, but there was no large tree in site - where was God now in our time of need???

As it happened, I really enjoyed the cycle home in the rain. We arrived caked in mud and soaked to the skin, but I thought it was good fun, I'm not sure Dad agreed. However, it did get me thinking that so often we only think of God being present when he meets our wants. We turn to him when we think our situation desperate and feel ignored if we don't receive what we ask for. How many of us have driven around car parks praying for a space, and that we spot it before all the others driving around, as though, just because we believe in God, he should give us that parking space first. I wonder how many of us in that situation stop and think about why the others may need the space before us. Or what should God do if there were two Christians driving round the car park looking for spaces - who gets priority? If you are like me, you will pray for sunshine when you are doing something outdoors, but then are worried when the farmers say that the crops aren't growing as there hasn't been enough rain. God was present with us on that bike ride. He may not have provided a big tree to shelter us, he may not have blown those clouds over so it didn't rain, but I did have a warm house and a hot shower when I got home - things that I could definitely be thankful for, and things that many others caught in the rain these last few weeks, because they have nowhere else to go, could only dream of. I wonder, what could we do to be the answer to someone's prayer today?