“But in my distress I cried out to the Lord; yes, I prayed to my God for help. He heard me from His sanctuary; my cry to Him reached His ears.” Psalm 18:6
We lost our car in a sea of cars. Friday after Thanksgiving, the whole Taylor tribe decided to drive to Nashville and see all the Christmas decorations at the Opryland Hotel. You may or may not know but this place is massive and magnificent. We actually went Friday night to the mall there and then walked over to the hotel. When we got there we found out that we couldn’t get in due to crowd restrictions. So most of the tribe went back to the mall and my wife Judy and I went back to our hotel. Apparently we were the only ones with any common sense. I mean, you can imagine how many people were there. Remember it was Black Friday—enough said.
Well, the next day we had breakfast at our hotel and then loaded up to try our luck again with the Opryland Hotel decorations. So we got there about 10:30 in the morning so there was a whole lot less people and even in the daylight the decorations were still impressive. As an added bonus, we were able to park our car without much fanfare. In fact, it was so easy that we kinda forgot to notice where we parked. Well, have you ever noticed those people wandering around the parking lot looking for their car. Judy and I decided to join that club. Here’s how it went.
After awhile, all the Taylor tribe but us left for home. We decided to hang around till dusk to see the lights when it was at least partially dark. We wandered around, drank hot chocolate, watched all the people and listened to all the music. Finally, we decided it was time to go back to our hotel. We began our journey to the parking lot and when we got out there, two things were obvious. First, it was dark. Second, those few hundred cars had turned into a few thousand cars. It was just about then that we realized we really had no idea where we had parked.
Well, we waded out into the fray, determined to find our car. We headed in the general direction we thought we had parked and of course mashed the lock and unlock button hoping to see our lights flash. That turned out to be a negative, nope, nada. Then I got another idea. I decided to mash the panic button—which by the way pretty much described the atmosphere at that time. So, I hit the button and way off in the distance, I thought I heard the frantic beep of a Volkswagen. I waited a minute or two until the distant beeping stopped and repeated the button mashing thing—just to make sure it was ours. Sure enough—it started beeping again.
Well, to make a long story shorter in just a few minutes we stumbled onto the beeping Volkswagen and we were safe at last. Tada! So, there were two important lessons. First, always, always make a note of where you park your car. Second, if you do lose your car, mash the panic button and listen for the frantic sound of your horn beeping away. Oh, and when you do find it, act like you knew where it was all the time.
By the way, did you know all of that works in life too? Sure does. First, always know where you are—not only physically, but emotionally and spiritually. Second, remember you can always mash the panic button—not on your car remote but the one that connects you to your Dearest Daddy. Like panic it starts with a “p” but instead it is called prayer. If you call out, He will answer—maybe not in your way or time but always in His way and His time. So don’t panic. Remember, “He’s got this.” Bro. Dewayne
Grits with Grace 