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Afraid to Ask!

by Jud Wickwire

God provides in so many ways. All too often, we are blissfully unaware of how He is working around us, while at other times we are blown away by the grandeur of events that He is clearly orchestrating. At still other times, we are surprised at the simplicity of His help.

Jud's airplane.

    The GPS unit that I use in the plane is a Pocket PC with GPS software installed on it. (GPS – Global Positioning System – uses satellites to provide position information, ground track, ground speed, altitude, estimated time of arrival, airport and navigation-aid information, and a color moving map display that shows where you are on planet earth.) I acquired this new unit last fall after my old one failed. I was still figuring out some of the features on a trip up to northern British Columbia last fall. The unit worked fine on the way up, but when I went to make a flight the next day it wouldn’t turn on. For the next few days, though I was flying in familiar territory and didn’t need to use the GPS, I tried everything, including the reset button, to get the unit to power up. No matter what I did, I was only met with a frustratingly blank screen.

	A handheld GPS unit.

    My flight back home would be 450 nautical miles over a lot of remote wilderness – a trip I have made many times before. I could find my way by using dead reckoning and map reading, so restoring the GPS was not essential, but it would be a tremendous convenience.

    I was flying along on a short flight to refuel for the trip back, fiddling with the buttons on the unit, hoping that it would suddenly come to life. The thought flashed through my mind to pray about it. Pray about it? It just wasn’t important enough to bother God with. I felt like I should save the prayer for something more worthy. But then, why not? So I prayed briefly, and then pushed the reset button like I had a hundred times before. The screen came to life and the unit powered up normally!

    I shouldn’t have been surprised at all. But I have to admit, I was. We have seen God provide for us in so many unexpected ways. He has answered prayers in ways bigger than we even asked for. He cares about all of the things that are happening in our lives. We shouldn’t be afraid to ask Him for help – anytime, anywhere, for anything. He is always listening. In fact, Jesus said, "your Father knows what you need before you ask him" (Matthew 6:8, NIV)

    As I write I am surrounded by boxes. We are in the final stages of moving out of our house in preparation to head to Michigan for mission training and then on to Guyana. Yesterday, we went to our church to have our pictures taken for the directory. As we filled out the family information form, on the line asking our occupation, we wrote "Missionaries." It is really happening! Please continue to pray that God will guide us as we prepare for doing His work in Guyana – we’re confident that He is already answering your prayers.