Sparks are flying, Holy Ghost style

Tonight was the last regular Freshmen Group of the semester. It was a good time, this semester went really fast. Sometime I'll do some first semester FG reflections. But tonight I gotta write down the little episode of what happened afterward.

So I was on my way to Town Engineering Building to finish the project of a lifetime. Writing this blog post is actually slightly inhibiting me to get to the finish line of that project, but it's worth it. I'm trucking along in the cold with my backpack. But on the road right there between Hoover and town is a little logjam of quiet commotion. Iowa State Parking Division truck with it's lights on, and then two car with there hoods up and jumper cables. Ugh, bad time for a battery to die. It's a cold night. I'm late to the project, so I keep trucking down the sidewalk. But then,
a
tug.

Lord, them? Now?
If you want to have a life characterized by miracles and helping people and bringing the kingdom, yes you need to go now. When do you think those opportunities are going to come, on your day off? Now go pray for the battery.
That's more or less what God said in the time of about a quarter of a second. I dunno, it's weird how God talks to me sometimes, it's like a scroll that's all wrapped up and handed into my brain, and I think it all at once. Okay, maybe that was a bad way to describe it, let me try again. It's like my thoughts are really really really quick for a moment. But not quick or twitchy or fast. More just like, how you can look at a word and just know it, right? When you're reading? You don't have to sound it out, like "okay, the D makes a 'duh' sound and the O makes a "oh" sound and the G makes a 'guh' sound" but you just comprehend it at once, "dog." So it's kind of like that, but instead of with a word it's with a sentence or two. Like the italicized portion above. Note that's not a word for word, I don't know that I could generate a word for word, but it was close. I have a couple moment argument with God, but I know He's right so I shuffle back to them awkwardly.

There was a parking guy, a filipino couple (the flag hanging from the rear-view mirror clued me into the specifics), and a blonde guy with a part in his hair all hovering around. From what I could tell of their dialogue, nothing was working. They had been messing with the battery and the cables, but the parking guy was trudging back to his ISU DPS batmobile to try something else. I'm still chilling on the sidewalk, a few feet away, trying to do my best distance stare, the "oh hmm I'm peeking in from a distance and I'm interested but not going to just barge in and engage you first, so I hope you notice me" stare. They caught on, and we made some small talk.

"Oh, you gonna have to tow it?" "I hope not, but nothing's working" "yadda yadda"
I'm trying to stall yet build a little repor, because I know I just need to drop the weirdo prophet Jesus man card in a second. But God, this is still weird... You know what to do, c'mon Lance... So I just dive in, enough small talk.

"Hey, this might sound a little weird, but... I feel like God really wants me to pray for your car that it would work and stuff."
They're response was generally positive, I couldn't sum up all of them at once for the nuances of how they reacted to me bringing up God and prayer out of nowhere but it sure seemed to be all green lights. They were open to try anything, since their other things initially didn't have any success.

"So would that be okay if I like prayed for your car? I know it's weird but I feel like that's what God wants me to do, I mean he loves you guys and he wants to show that he even cares about the little things and getting you guys out of the cold." No I want to say that I said that last part eloquently and looking into their eyes with all compassion, but nah the words just kinda tumbled out and I looked at the ground.

"Well sure, I'm catholic man so you know..." The filipino guy spoke up. "Yeah go for it."

I'm looking at the car, wondering, okay, God, what does this look like praying for an inanimate object like this. Well, the battery was the problem and it had all the cables attached to it, so it seemed like a good place to start. I took one glove off and put my bare hand on the battery.

"Dear Jesus, I pray that you would come and ...." I don't really have any recollection of what I prayed specifically. Something about how much Jesus loves them again. I do remember saying "... in Jesus' name, amen." but feeling like I had missed something so quickly throwing in a "your kingdom come, your will be done. Amen." Hopefully these guys weren't on an Amen quota, because I used two in the same prayer.

Well, I felt mostly satisfied with the prayer and just satisfied in my spirit, not like scared but not fireworks on the inside either. The woman spoke and said, "well, guess we should try it again now" "Yeah why not" was the consensus. She prodded the blonde guy with a part in his hair and he went toward the driver's door. I'm pretty sure blondie is a believer, I might have seen him at Fish dinner before, but I know for sure that the faith and confidence he had as he walked toward the door that yeah, he's a believer.

I'm standing back on the sidewalk, and as the parking division guys says "Let er rip" I feel this quick ripple like "hey, you should be nervous about how this is going to turn out why aren't you still praying silently" but I just as quickly somehow answer back "nah I'm content." It was weird, I almost didn't care. But in a good way, I'm pretty sure. No, I know in a good way. There was no striving or reaching or disbelief it was just... satisfied faith, I guess. Not sure what that phrase means but satisfied faith is my answer.

All that argument again took place in about a quarter of a second before the guy turned the key in the ignition.
SKEOW!
A giant spark shot out of the red terminal, and a little one out of the black terminal on the battery.
But, the engine didn't turn over or start. Again, I somehow just didn't care or get phased on the inside, just that it was kind of loud and a really big spark.

"Hey, we got a spark now, it'll start charging." Okay, good news. I'm glad parking division guy said that, because I don't really know car batteries or how to read the situation. Even though it didn't suddenly roar to life and sound like a Dodge Viper, it had happened. It had changed. Jesus answered. "We'll let it charge for like 5 minutes and it should be good."

So I'm back near the sidewalk, blondy's getting out of the car. And for whatever reason, I just give them a "Okay, awesome, well I gotta get going to a project so I'll see you later" And they give a goodbye as I turn my back to them and march on.

Now, in retrospect, I don't know why I fled the scene so fast. It would have been really great to stay and use the platform for the message, "Hey, this just goes to show, guys, that Jesus cares even about the little details of your life and he loves you so much. I think that just like the car battery sparked to life Jesus wants to come and cause you to spark to new life through Him." All things that would have been good to say. But, I marched away. Praising and thanking God, of course, but not turning back to look at all. I pray and trust that the blonde guy will use the platform and the space for a message, pointing them even more to Christ. If nothing else, I pray that they remember my prayer or the name Jesus and associate that name with the fact their car starts.

Lord, thanks for the opportunity and for not letting me walk on by. I love you Lord. May this be the start of something more. I want to be trustworthy with the little things, so that You can trust me with the big things. And may you continue to minister to those 4 people. Lord I don't know what they saw in the whole situation but I pray that they would be drawn to You more and give You the Glory you deserve. Thank you Jesus.
And may you continue to send sparks into our lives. Amen.