King David, Jack Bauer & the friendship of God.

It is not a true Gospel that gives us the impression that the Christian life is easy, and that there are no problems to be faced. That is not the New Testament teaching. The New Testament is most alarming at first, indeed terrifying, as it shows us the problems by which we are confronted. But follow it-go on! It does not stop halfway, it goes on to this addition, this second half; and here it shows us the way in which, though that is the truth concerning the battle, we can be enabled to wage it, and not only to wage it, but to triumph in it. It shows us that we are meant to be "more than conquerors.

                                          -Martyn Lloyd Jones

Obviously I've written already about the accident. Well, just to add insult to injury, a meter reader decided to ticket my car.Here's the explanation: When I was re-ended, my car hit two others and came to a rest in the intersection. Once officers arrived, one moved my car to a metered spot. He told us that as long as he was there we didn't have to feed the meter. As soon as he left my husband went to feed the meter while we were waiting for the tow. THERE WAS ALREADY A TICKET ON MY WRECKED CAR! I contested it online (even gave the information about the officer that parked it) & received a letter today saying that they "investigated" the incident and the citation was "valid". ARRGGH! Now I have to go to a hearing if I don't want to pay it. I think they just send these letters out and people give up and don't want to go to a hearing. Most people don't want to deal with it and just suck it up and pay the $60. In this case I'm going to bat for myself. This is ridiculous. I sent them an e-mail two days ago and they claim they had an inquiry and conducted an administrative investigation already. I think that they just said "Meh. Screw it. The city of LA needs all the money it can get. Send her the form letter saying that it was her fault and we did investigate it." I doubt any government bureau does anything in two days time. All I have to say is: Really LA Parking Violations, Really??

By the way, you could tell my car had just been in a wreck. It's totaled, also were they not paying attention to the officer filling out paper work nearby? I guess common sense doesn't matter in City Government Bureaus. On top of dealing with a very corrupt insurance company who is trying to screw us out of what's due to us (medical care & car replacement) I have to deal with a parking ticket. It's almost like a joke. Like something out of a sitcom, ya know? I have to have a laugh track in my mind because it's just that crazy. 

I did read a verse today that hit the nail on the head:

Do yourself a favor, get a copy of this book.
There's even a free App for your iPhone
that I use.

Psalm 25:14-18
^14(W) The friendship^[b] of the LORD is for those who fear him,
   and he makes known to them his covenant.¹⁵My^(X) eyes are ever toward the LORD,   for he will^(Y) pluck my feet out of the net. ^16(Z) Turn to me and be gracious to me,
   for I am lonely and afflicted.
¹⁷The troubles of my heart are enlarged;
   bring me out of my distresses.^18(AA) Consider my affliction and my trouble,   and forgive all my sins.

 I'm obviously not "lonely" in the same way David is, however it can feel like you are very much alone when you (or in this case my husband and I), the individual go up against a huge entity like an insurance company. I especially love verse 17. This to me represents those nights where I wake up overwhelmed by the whole situation. My heart feels heavy with the ENLARGED troubles. I only fall back to sleep when I realize who is in charge & that He has promised me peace. Jesus literally brings me out of my distresses and gives me a calm heart so that I can fade off into much needed sleep. Before I get to the other parts of this verse, I have to point out that the first verse is clearly the most important. God gives us His FRIENDSHIP. That's HUGE. Because of this unique spiritual relationship we know His covenant. As Spurgeon says in Morning and Evening:

 Happy soul to be thus privileged!

  

  This particular Psalm was written by David and it's the first of seven alphabetical psalms that create an acrostic (See? Loving acrostics goes way back in the church). This psalm may have also been written at a time when David's own son, Absalom  was creating a rebellion against his own father. I had read a couple other psalms that were written while David is living in a cave alone, hiding from his own son (Psalm 42 & 43). These two chapters (42 &43) are great examples of David "exhorting" himself. Obviously David was in the lowest spot one could be in, he didn't even know where his food would come from, much less when he would be safe. Instead of playing the "Woe is Me" card (which is terribly easy to do sometimes), he called out to his God & knew that if he put all of his focus on God, he couldn't have a pity party. In reading these two chapters you can hear David almost talking himself (obviously with God's help) through the disaster that is his life. 
 To me, in so many "unfair" or tragic situations (I'm not saying that our situation is tragic seeing that my children are unharmed) David's life becomes clearer for the believer. Would I dare to call this a "David-esque" situation? We are up against a giant (21st Century Insurance) who hurls brutal taunts our way and is making an already difficult situation far more difficult. Cameron called them yesterday about something and without asking what he was calling about they launched into how they weren't going to be able to give us that much money. Can we say: TRYING TOO HARD? We are both finding our hearts troubled in the midst of battle, yet we still cling to the only one who can bring salvation and hope. It might seem a bit vain, but I would call this a situation where I feel like David. 


 My heart (and Cameron's) are constantly in communication with God so that we can not only give Him our sorrows, but also know the right thing to do. 
 Well, this turned into a long blog. CATHARSIS, or even better, exhorting to clear my heart for the things God needs me to focus on. 
I'll close this long blog with this: the days of a trial are numbered. I cannot thank Karen Chaddick enough for teaching me that at women's retreat. In my brain I can hear & see the countdown that was a trademark of the show 24. No matter what trouble he was in and no matter how beat up Jack Bauer was, we knew that the hours & minutes in a day were numbered. The trial would be over when the clock hit 24. 
At some point,  Cameron and I will look back on this time and realize one of two things: We cried out to God & He heard us. Because of that He gave us peace & wisdom through the whole situation. Option #2: We can look back and see that we had a pity party and had a bad case of the "WhyMe's?". I pray that years from now we can look back on this and say that we did well, not because of our strength, but because of God.