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Ask, seek, knock: Finding hope after the McKenna fire
Middleton Times Tribune - July 19, 2007
by Dietrich Gruen, Middleton Outreach Ministry
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and door will be opened to you.… Which of you, if his son asks for bread will given him a stone?...how much more then will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets”—Jesus, from the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 7:7-12).
We all know the so-called Golden Rule (“Do unto others”), which is common to not only the Jewish and Christian scriptures, but to most world religions. Not to be confused with “God helps those who help themselves”—which is NOT in the Bible anywhere, although half the US population think it is.
But in its immediate biblical context, the Golden Rule is linked with this principle of “Ask, Seek, Knock.” And that leaves me a bit uneasy. I feel vulnerable to disappointment and leery of misapplying this great truth and promise. Surely there must be a catch somewhere that I am missing. And so I hold back and go without. “I have not because I ask not,” or so I’m told.
This whole issue is tied up with the very meaning of my name. I exhibit a certain entrepreneurial “can-do” spirit, as I have grown up thinking I am the key to all doors. “How vain!” you say. Seriously, my name dietrich—while an unusual first name in English—in German commonly means skeleton key, that is, a “key to all doors” (euphemistically speaking) or “burglar’s tool” (the negative connotation of my name).
So, this whole question of how God answers prayer, or gives us what we ask, or opens doors of opportunity—that is all rich with meaning and fraught with ambiguity for me.
Recent cases—all from last Saturday, shall suffice to underscore this point. In the first instance, I put my money where my mouth is, so to speak. The whole left side of my mouth was giving me considerable pain the week before, but do I ask for relief? No, I wait, I doubt, I want. Because I couldn’t chew much, this made me do without certain foods. I was not asking for what I really needed—pain relief from a dentist. I asked, sort of, but without conviction.
When the pain in my left jaw became too much to bear, I called again and went boldly in to see my dentist, Dr. James Lord, who used to work out of 7432 Hubbard Avenue, which is now my office. (That was another bold ask, eight years ago.) He said this time, “Sure enough, you’ve got a tooth split from top to bottom, which can not be crowned, only pulled.” So his secretary scheduled me eight days out with some oral surgeon to extract the tooth.
In yet more pain that night, I called him at home. Because I asked, this time with conviction and persistence, he decided to cancel his next day off and do the surgery himself. With tooth pulled, my pain was gone and a lesson learned. I asked of the (dentist James) Lord, and I received. All within 12 hours.
And this was just a good man, James Lord, who answered my call for help in the middle of the night. How much more then will the great Lord of heaven and earth do for us, when we ask, seek and knock, in faith!
So what was I waiting (doubting and procrastinating) for? Oh, ye of little faith! Other people are not so limited in their thinking, their asking, or their prayers. God seems to answer them in proportion to their faith.
Take Susan for example. I first met Susan a year ago. She was then, and still is, an unemployed person, always struggling with her health and rent. But a surprising rags-to-riches story spilled out of this firm believer, when I caught up with her this past Saturday at the MOM Distribution Center. While visiting relatives in Silicon Valley for two weeks last month, she had time on her hands, but still no job. So she scanned the local papers and asked of the Lord to bless her seeking and knocking on doors. Susan then applied for a particular job in her field, web-design, which apparently is in high demand out there.
This wannabe web-designer made it through several rounds of impromptu interviews and call-backs, all while still on vacation in California. The end result? Susan landed a job perfectly matched to her web-design skills—all in response to her asking God in faith for what she really wanted, coincident with her financial needs. This MOM client just needed a second chance. Once dependent on the free food and clothing that MOM gives out each month, Susan had landed a nice job, not just any job—but a $65,000 job—one with the promise of earning $100,000 annually within three years.
Imagine that? A poor MOM client now on her way to prosperity! It’s very easy to categorize those who use MOM services as being of a certain “class” of folk. But, truth be told, they are us. But for the grace of God—or a missed paycheck or a tragic accident—there go you or me.
Another lesson learned: I must believe that good things happen for those who think big, ask for what they want, filtered by what they need, all the while trusting the God of second chances.
God knows everyone need jobs and housing, so why are any us jobless or homeless from time to time? Good question, which is beyond the scope of this news story. Perhaps some end up homeless due to illegal, anti-social or inappropriate behavior, but in my ten years of working with the homeless and those at risk of becoming homeless, I have yet to meet one person who wanted to be homeless.
Certainly not the evacuees forced out of their homes by the tragic July 14 fire at the McKenna Blvd apartments. Those 41 units nearby Elver Park happen to lie within MOM’s limited geographic service area and the Middleton Cross Plains School district, so these fire victims are indeed our neighbors.
Since I am a trained mass care worker for the Red Cross, and my wife is a trained mental health worker, we got the call that same Saturday night to care for the suddenly homeless. While doing intake at the Red Cross shelter we set up, I met several such “neighbors” that night. I heard of the heroic efforts of the firefighters who braved the burning building to rescue pets. For one lady, what once was lost, for hours—her dog—was miraculously found. And this, she believed, was in response to her fervent prayers, asking God to direct the seeking and knocking on doors by the firefighters—until behind one door there was her dog, safe and sound. That only strengthened her faith in the God who answers prayer. I was there to comfort her and assess her shelter needs, but she was the one reassuring me with the promise, “With God, all things are possible.”
When there’s a fire engulfing your building, and you have a minute’s notice to get out, you flee with the clothes on your back and “whatever” in your hand. If that were you, what would you grab? I learned that night that people treasure their beloved pets over possessions any day.
MOM can give these neighbors more food and clothing. And your donations will help in this regard. But not all losses can be restored. Some treasured pets did die in that fire. Many work and school and family projects were lost. Did not God know they “needed” that stuff? Why did God not answer their prayers? That, too, is a question for another day. Not all answers to prayer are “Yes!” Sometimes God answers “No!” or “Wait!”
But our faith can also give meaning to the losses we suffer. IF God brings you to it, He will bring you through it. Together, we are connecting our neighbors for good..
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