Praying For A Parking Space

Hey, this is Mike Zwick from If Not For God Podcast, our show.

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But most of all, thank you for listening and for choosing the Truth Podcast Network. Well, today on Encouraging Prayer, we have a very interesting topic, praying for a parking place. Have I got that right, James? Yeah, it's praying for parking spaces question mark, because this is actually one of those age-old debates, or actually, you know, as old as a car, you know, should I pray for a parking space? You know, is that too trivial thing to bother God with?

Is that a selfish thing to pray about? So that's where we're going to go. That's a wonderful topic. As the Christian car guy, I've had a chance to interview, actually, race car drivers on this whole thing, on this very, like, what they do at Christmas time to get a parking place.

So I'm with you. Oh, that's hilarious. Well, I want to start with a little story. The other night, my son had come up to help me on a project. We worked all day on this project, a hot day, and we decided to go out for some ice cream.

And it was about nine o'clock at night by the time we, you know, decided to go. And there's this place in Durham called Simon Says Dip This. And it's a great soft serve place that has all kinds of different, like 15 different toppings you can dip in. And anyhow, we're on the way to this place. And it's in downtown Durham. And downtown Durham is hopping. I mean, there is no parking space available.

There are gospel singers in the square right nearby. And I mean, there's all kinds of stuff happening. We drive all around this ice cream place.

And there's nothing, there's nothing. So Jeff, who's driving starts to kind of widen the circle and keeps going farther and farther. And finally, it's about 930 or so. And by now, we're all getting impatient. And he says, Well, we're about a quarter mile away, you know, that that's not too bad. We could we could make it from here. And I'm thinking about it.

And I'm realizing, wait a minute, this is uphill. First of all, secondly, I'm not walking through downtown Durham, after after 930 at night. So I made the comment, well, have have we prayed about finding a parking space? And Jeff, you know, he's all he's also a pastor to high school students.

He's a very practical guy. Do you know what Jesus is going to say to you when you pray about a parking space? I said, No, no, what he's gonna say, take up your cross and walk a quarter mile to get your ice cream.

Do you really? That's that's a very interesting answer. And your response to that I was, well, you know, I mean, first, I couldn't help laughing.

You know, I'm thinking, okay, well, he has a point, you know, it could sound like a very trivial thing. But I have my response was keep driving, keep go back to the ice cream place. Go back there. And, of course, while he's doing that, I'm quietly praying, Lord, open up a place for us. And we get back to the place. And there's this well close to it. And there's an intersection. My wife says turn right, I said, No, turn left, go directly in front of it. And as soon as we pull up, there's a space just across the street. It's just just wide open. All he does is hang a quick you. And he's right.

But here's where it gets even funnier. Jeff's favorite animal ever since he was a little kid. And you know, he's in his early 30s now, but we're penguins. He loves penguins for some reason, just one of those things and make them laugh.

But we pull up in front of the store that has a display all across its front window. You know, just as he's pulling into park, we turn to the right, and they're just all these penguins. And I look at the penguins and I say, Jeff, God is trying to tell you something.

Darrell Bock Tennessee tuxedo, no doubt. Oh, my goodness. Oh, wow. And so Jeff's response at that point was?

Jeff Chilton Silence, you know. No, actually, we had an interesting conversation that followed where I said, you know, I know it could sound trivial, but at the same time, Scripture says, pray continually. You know, I mean, that's First Thessalonians five, or, you know, you look at Ephesians chapter four, and the New Living Translation says, pray about everything. And so it's not a matter of this being a trivial thing. It's actually a practical thing of letting God into your daily circumstances, even the smallest thing. So what I told him was it actually honors God to pray about something like that. And I think it does.

What do you think? Darrell Bock Oh, there's no doubt in my mind, recently, a good friend of mine who has that kind of relationship with God that I know you do and I enjoy. He came outside, he was just, you know, hanging out in his backyard, and he saw two doves on his roof. And he thought, well, you know, there's two doves, and there should be three doves, because it's Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, right? And he said, so God, if that's really you up there with those doves, why not let there be three doves? And he turns his head a little bit, and there have been three doves there the whole time.

And he's like, oh. He goes, well, now I'm pushing it, but, you know, this dog came out, and it started to bark. He said, you know, if that's really you, God, and the three doves are up there, why don't one of them come walking down towards the dog, which we know would not be its natural inclination, right? If there's a dog barking at the roof, the doves are not going to do that.

And one of the doves not only walks down the roof, it gets in the gutter. And again, you see, the point of praying like this is relationship. It's conversational prayer. It's, again, staying in the moment with God.

And, you know, of course, people ask questions as well. Well, what if I pray about a parking space, and it doesn't happen, and it just gets more frustrating? What if somebody else is praying, you know? Yeah, well, you know, there could be that issue. Maybe someone else is praying harder for the parking space. Maybe someone needs it more. I don't know. But again, it was funny, we were at a church lunch afterwards and talking about this.

And there's a woman from our congregation who's lived a number of years. And after we recounted this whole story, she looked at Jeff, and she said, You do not have because you do not ask. So, we want to be in that place of asking. And sure, there may be times when, you know, you don't get it answered, or something even worse happens.

You get a fender bender trying to pull into another one. But keep the conversation going. Oh, can you pray along those lines for all of us right now?

It would be really good. Well, let's pray. Father, help us in this. Lord, help us to stay close.

Thank you. Lord, that you give us this privilege, this opportunity. We praise you.

And just help us to stay right there with you. In Jesus' name. Amen.

How fun. Amen. You can hear more from Pastor James by visiting his website, jamesbanks.org, or by visiting Peace Church in Durham, North Carolina. Or by visiting Peace Church in Durham, North Carolina. May God bless you and encourage you as you pray.