Monday, July 14, 2008

Glorifying God Following a Day of Trouble

John gave a sermon on Psalm 50 with an emphasis on verse 15: "call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me." Unfortunately, I'm much more likely to call upon God and less likely to glorify Him. In light of this, here's a partial list of times that God has delivered me:
  1. Once, at the bus stop on the corner of Jefferson and Normandie, a teenage gunman started shooting from across the street. The abuelita a few feet away from me was hit in the leg, but the ambulance came quickly and she was okay, all things considered. The other seven bullets missed all of us standing at the bus stop.
  2. The first summer after college, we returned to the neighborhood after our first year away at fancy colleges. After bowling one night, two guys with shotguns robbed five of us on our way home. Everyone was okay and we only lost around $8.
  3. On April 29, 1992, the day of the Rodney King verdicts, our boss closed down our offices at 54th and Crenshaw a bit early. I hopped on the bus, around 4:00 p.m., rode to USC and got off the bus without realizing that the L.A. riots had started.
  4. I was robbed a couple of other times, once on the way to work at USC, once when Reid and I were jogging home, and once on the bus. People said they had weapons, but they didn't use them.
  5. In high school, a van drove by at a very slow rate as my friends and I stood outside of the auditorium after rehearsal. A guy leaned out of the window and yelled something at us as the van passed by. I was mad, and in high school, so I flipped them off. The van backed up and I said, "We've got trouble." My friend Wing added, "Right here in River City." A guy in a white shirt and baggy jeans jumped out of the car, looking angry. "Hey, it's only Tim," he said. It was a gang banger, but, fortunately, it was my friend Victor.
  6. Also, it might sound small, but I made some really good progress on a writing project for work today. Caroline and I prayed about it on the way to work this morning. We sought the Lord, and He answered us.
God delivers us from all of our fears!