Great Expectations

I know someone who doesn’t believe in God. They didn’t tell me, they told someone who told me. You know how that goes. And, as usual, I got to thinking. How does that whole non-belief thing work? Even with my extremely overactive imagination, I can’t figure out how someone can live without believing in God.

My mom used to request parking spaces. God’s a master at providing one right by the front door when you ask. I had to go the court house one day and, as usual, my feet were hurting. If you’ve ever been in downtown San Antonio, then you know how hard it is to find a parking space anywhere within about 20 miles of where you’re going. Sure enough, there was a parking space just for me. Right in front of the court house. Because I asked for it. If I’m running late to work, I ask Him to please let the light stay green. And He does.

Right about here, you’re thinking that God’s job isn’t to provide me with green lights and parking spaces. And you would be right. But to a certain extent, you’re wrong. On my birthday a few years ago, while going to Wal-Mart, I made it through four traffic lights without ever having to slow down and pulled into a parking space right in front of the store! The traffic lights staying green and the parking space in front was a little birthday present from Father. It just made my day and I thanked Him profusely. It doesn’t take much to make me happy and little presents from God are always a treat. People who think God doesn’t do miracles anymore don’t have bad feet and aren’t habitually running late.

Years ago, our Associate Pastor had previewed a website I built for the church. During our conversation, he told me he was going to preach on expectations the following Sunday. He had some really good lines that I’m seriously tempted to plagiarize and use right about here. I’ll refrain from doing so, since I’m pretty sure one of the Commandments talks about stealing. But he thinks most people have low expectations. Like I do with parking spaces.

Maybe, but I also firmly believe that no matter what happens to me in life…it will be okay. On the big things, I have great expectations, and Father hasn’t ever let me down. His solution to my problem might not be the one I would want, but it’s always the right one. Even if I might not believe so at the time.

But I also think Father likes to give us the little things. Like asking your dad if you can have a dime to buy a book and he gives you the money. Oops! I really dated myself with that one, didn’t I? Now you’d have to ask him for about fifteen dollars to buy that same paperback. God expects us to go to him with the big things, but I don’t think He really expects us to “bother” Him with the little things, so it must please Him when we do. That lets Him know that we have Him so firmly implanted in our lives that we have no compunctions talking to Him on a regular basis. Isn’t that what we all want? An intimate relationship with God?

I don’t just ask for stuff; I always tell Him that He’s done a good job when the sky is a beautiful blue color, or it’s raining, or the grass is really green. You get the idea. My favorite cartoon is a Ziggy one. Ziggy is standing on a mountain with a beautiful sunset before him. The only caption on there is “Go, God” and Ziggy is clapping. He’s got it right. God likes it when we admire His handiwork.

So how do non-believers get by on a day to day basis? They must be late for work a lot and I know they don’t ever get parking spaces close by. Isn’t the void in their life from the emptiness overwhelming? What do they have to look forward to after they die? It sure isn’t Heaven, since that goes hand-in-hand with belief. Do they think it’s all over or maybe they’ll come back as a giraffe?

What do they think when they look at the ocean? How can they stand on a beach and not be overwhelmed with the majesty of it all? Have they ever driven through the Rocky Mountains? Our world is full of so many things to just look at with awe and wonder. Do they pass through life without really noticing the flower growing in some unexpected place? Where do they think all this good stuff comes from?

When an Atheist or Agnostic gets in big trouble, what do they do? They sure can’t pray, because they don’t believe in anyone to pray to. They can ask their friends for help I guess, but we all know our friends won’t always be able to help. I could ask any one of my friends for a parking space and they’d probably be willing to drive me downtown themselves. But no way would they be stupid enough to drive down there and try to reserve me a parking spot.

Okay, one of them might. Simon would. He’d pull into a parking place then back out when I got there so I could take it. You’ll think he’s an awfully nice man, which he is, but the rest of the story would be that he was bringing his wife to meet me and Genny and I were staying there. I don’t think even Simon would be willing to hold the parking space unless Genny was somehow involved.

Non-believers have an incredibly hard life. They must do it all themselves and wander through life without getting unexpected presents from above. How sad. It’s much easier to have a God you can always rely on. High or low expectations, it doesn’t matter, Father will always come through. If I didn’t really believe that, I’d have to make sure I always left early enough to not worry about traffic signals. That would be a real miracle if it ever happened!