Mechanic on Duty

I went to lots of different schools I when I was growing up – seven of them from first grade until I graduated.  Through most of my elementary school years, we lived close enough so that I could walk to school.  Walking to school was not a chore for me – I actually enjoyed it.  When I was in the second grade, I walked to school past a gas station that had a garage attached.  There was a sign out front that said, “Mechanic on duty.”  I had no idea who “Mechanic” was, but it made me feel better and safer somehow just knowing that whoever that happened to be was “on duty.”  I even had a picture in my mind of what “Mechanic” would look like.

One Saturday morning, I was going shopping with my grandmother and we drove past a different gas station.  Guess what I saw out front.  A sign that said, “Mechanic on duty.”  What?!  Mechanic has moved!! Mechanic is now on duty somewhere else!  Is anybody on duty at “my” gas station?  It was a terrible feeling.  Mechanic had let me down and jumped ship.  Why on earth would Mechanic do that?  I needed Mechanic to be “on duty” when I walked back and forth to school.  It was a mystery to me.  What in the world was going on with Mechanic?

So, I decided to ask Daddy about it. I figured my Daddy could help me understand it if anybody could.   I told him about Mechanic being on duty at my gas station and how they advertised it with a sign right out front.  I told him how Mechanic had left me in the cold and moved on to another gas station.  Only, I didn’t have a clue what “mechanic” was, and I pronounced it me-chan-ick.  And I was pretty upset with Mechanic for leaving me in the lurch and not being on duty for me.  Good grief!  Anything could happen if Mechanic wasn’t on duty!  I didn’t know what that might be, but I figured it could be something pretty awful.  Walking to school just wouldn’t be the same.

Daddy explained to me what “mechanic” actually meant.  Are you kidding me?  That’s a person who works on the cars, not someone protecting us?  Who knew?  And there’s more than one Mechanic?!  So, “my” Mechanic is still there!  On duty still, for all the good it would do me.  I was relieved and irritated all at the same time.  It was so nice to know that Mechanic had not deserted me after all.  But, it sure was disappointing to find out that he wasn’t there to offer any kind of protection and that whole “on duty” business hadn’t meant anything even close to what I had thought.  Oh, well.  Walking to school would just be a little riskier.  Good thing that Stubby, my dog, walked to school with me every day.  He might just have to be a stand-in for Mechanic if it came to it.

Aren’t you glad that you don’t have to worry that God might be “on duty” somewhere else when you need Him?  I know that I am.  And I need Him.  Frequently.  Knowing that Mechanic was on duty was a source of comfort for me.  Knowing that God is everywhere is an even greater source of comfort.  I know that wherever I go and whatever my circumstances may be, I am NEVER out of God’s reach.  Nobody will ever have to "stand in" for God.  I know it because He promised me.  He promised you, too!  And while I sit here in the Cancer Center getting my latest treatment, I know He is right here with me.  On duty.

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, nor will the flame burn you.  Isaiah 43:2

I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you.  Hebrews 13:5

Where can I go from your Spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence? If I ascend into heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in hell, behold, you are there; if I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me," even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.  Psalm 139:7-10

Santa Claus, Watercolors, and God

We were living in Mobile when I was five years old.  It was getting close to Christmas and I was excited.  My Christmas list was done.  I knew what I wanted Santa Claus to bring me and I just couldn’t wait.  And then Mama gave me the news.  She thought I would be thrilled.  I wasn’t.  She said that we were going to Montgomery to spend Christmas with my grandmother.  What?!  I need to be at home for Christmas!  This is terrible!! Santa Claus knows I live here, but he will never find me in Montgomery!!  But I didn’t say any of that.  I just cried.  And cried.  Mama was mystified.  I ordinarily loved going to my grandmother’s for any reason at all.  I would even invent reasons that I needed to go visit her.  But not now!  Not at Christmas.  

I finally told Mama why I didn’t want to go.  She told me that it wouldn’t matter and that Santa would find me no matter where I was at Christmas.  I was less than convinced.  I decided that the safest thing I could do was leave him a note.  That way, if he showed up in Mobile, he would find the note, know I was in Montgomery, and just swing by my grandmother’s house to leave my loot. Seemed like a good plan to me.  So I got my brother to help me with the note.  I figured he had as much to gain from that note as I did.  If Santa couldn’t find me, then he certainly wouldn’t find my brother either.  Our note was to the point – We are at Mam-ma’s house and you can leave our presents there.  Love, Susan and David How could he not find us with those explicit directions?

So, off we went to Montgomery.  The note was taped to the mantel so Santa could not miss it when he plopped into our fireplace.  Things were looking up.  On Christmas Eve, I got my grandmother to help me with a second note for Santa.  It was also pretty much to the point and went something like Susan and David are here. You are in the right house now. I got an early start on my note-writing obsession.

Santa found us!  On Christmas morning I was thrilled.  The one thing I wanted more than anything was a giant watercolor set.  It had seventy-two colors and lots of brushes and paper.  The box was about the size of a Monopoly game and it had a hinged lid.  I painted like crazy.  I even touched up a couple of places on the wall at my grandmother’s house.  I distinctly remember that nobody appreciated it.  

Sometimes I think we have a tendency to treat God like Santa Claus.  Tell him what you want and wait for him to bring it.  We know better.  But they do have something in common.  Just like Santa, God always knows where his children are.  We don’t have to leave him notes so he can find us, either.  He is always there – He sees you when you’re sleeping and He knows when you’re awake.  He knows if you’ve been good or bad.  He knows how we handle everything life throws at us – and He knows that we sometimes pout.  And He loves us.  Completely and unconditionally.  

I am at the Cancer Center again.  Waiting.  Waiting. Waiting.  Today I see the doctor and next week I have a Herceptin treatment.  While I wait, I am sure that God is watching over me.  He has been with me every step of this journey and has been fighting even when I can’t.  He will do that for you, too.  You don’t need a medical crisis or another type of emergency or a catastrophe.  He will be right with you in the “ordinary” as well as the stressful.  Ask Him.  That’s all it takes.  He WANTS to be there and do good things for you!

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us – Ephesians 3:20