Last night I was feeding my cat and eating the free vegetables (free at the price of $22,000 a year) I brought home from a reception at the HSC. As we were enjoying our late evening snack, I heard a plastic bag rattling and then I heard the lid of my cat’s liter box hitting my basement door. If my daughter wasn’t inhaling her food in front of my eyes, I would have ignored the sounds and assumed it was her. As I got up to investigate, my cat followed me. She wedged herself in the small space between her liter box and the basement door and was trying with all her might to fit her head in the one inch gap under the door. I now knew that there was something very interesting to her and probably something very disturbing to me behind that door. After locking her in my bedroom, I took my flashlight and shinned it under my basement door and bent down to take a look for myself. Within seconds, I saw two glowing eyes staring back at me. My first thought was to call my dad and tell him to come to my apartment immediately and remove whatever creature was taking up residence in my basement. Somewhere between dialing his number and barricading my basement door; I remembered that there was a window to my basement. Before I made my dad drive one hour on a cold, damp, rainy night to be my exterminator; I would look inside to properly prepare him. I went outside fully expecting to see a raccoon, possum, or something worse hanging out in my basement. When I put my flashlight up to the window, I saw my neighbor’s cat sitting innocently on my basement steps.
My dad wasn’t the victim to my panic stricken phone call last night but I assure you he has been before. I once locked myself in my basement and called him at 12:30 at night to help me. He didn’t ask me why I thought it was a good idea to do laundry so late at night but instead, half asleep, he began giving me advice on how to pick my lock. After 10-15 minutes of unsuccessfully freeing myself, my dad said, “let me get my crowbar and then I’ll be up.” Another night, my power was out but everyone else on my street had power. I had been without power all day and called the electric company to see what was going on. They kindly told me nothing was wrong; I should have power. I didn’t kindly remind the man on the other end of the phone that I was positive I was sitting in a dark house and that as he was rambling, the food in my refrigerator was spoiling; I simply hung up and called my dad. Of course he would solve the problem, he works at Allegheny Power. Again after midnight, I called my dad and he sent me outside to my electric box asking me a zillion questions. After numerous “I don’t know responses” from me, my dad said, “let me call Allegheny and then I’ll be up.” When my dad’s phone rings past midnight, he knows I am smack in the middle of a dilemma but he doesn’t ignore me; he (usually) answers and welcomes my situation.
I may call my dad at late hours of the night occasionally but my phone calls to him are minimal compared to the phone calls I make to heaven. Every day, I am calling out to God with a question, a dilemma, a need, or in pure desperation. But every day, I also make a call to God just to tell him how much I love Him, how thankful I am for Him, and how awesome I think He is. There are no limits to the length of my conversations, the time of day I call, or how many times I call. And during every conversation, my heavenly father listens and gives advice(through the bible and the Holy Spirit) and when He is convinced that his presence is needed; He shows up. Isn’t it amazing to know that God is always a phone call away? He doesn’t care what’s on our hearts or what dilemma we find ourselves in; He just wants us to call out to Him and curl up on His lap as He makes everything better. If your prayer life was compared to a cell phone plan, would you need unlimited minutes or would the bare minimal plan be enough? I know that at times, God says, “It’s Jay Garcia again. This is the 23379 time today.” But every time He is there friends. And if you make the call heavenward whenever you need your Father, He will be right there for you as well. Don’t exhaust all of your options first and make God your last call. Call Him when you are in need, call Him when you need a friend, and call Him and thank Him for all that He is. When I call my dad late at night to come to my rescue; I may get his answering machine but I know as soon as he walks downstairs to the phone, he’ll call back with my answer. When I call my heavenly father and leave a message, I know He’ll call back as my answer.
Verse to remember: Jeremiah 33:3 Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.
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