The Path to True Worship

"No Agenda" Moments

Many years ago, I had a Honda Civic, a wife and two daughters who took afternoon naps, and an inspiration. I would use those several hours of sleep-time on Sundays to throw my toolbox into the back of the Honda and spend the time cruising the highway on a lookout for people who were having car problems. This was in the era before cellphones, so anyone with a set of wheels could be a big help to someone stranded along the road. 

As I set out on these afternoon jaunts, I would pull to the end of the driveway and offer a prayer. “God, the next several hours are yours. I have no agenda. Just lead me wherever I’m needed to meet with whoever you wish.”

From there I would head down the road in whatever direction seemed appropriate. I would keep on the lookout for cars stranded along the road: flat tires, blown radiators, and cars out of gas. I found all those and more on these excursions. And always I found thankful spirits from those I was privileged to help.

I clearly remember the one recipient of my aid. I saw a large gouge leading down the road and ending underneath a disabled car on the side of the road. The owner of the car was still behind the wheel, tightly surrounded by all his earthly possessions. He was documenting his predicament in neat, little, scrawled writing on a slip of paper when I knocked on the window. He said something – he wasn’t sure what – had gone, Bang! He had barely been able to get the car off the road.

I peeked under the car. He was right about the bang thing! The whole support structure of this overworked Oldsmobile had broken out from under the transmission! The driveshaft had dropped to the ground and had created that long groove in the pavement.

I walked up the side of the road and found a broken-off piece of a road sign. I dug it out of the underbrush and lugged it back to the Olds. It was just the right length so that I could wedge the one side under the frame and lever the transmission up off the ground. I managed to tuck the other end on top of the opposite frame member. The car was mobile again – barely. The man with the mini-scrawl writing was ecstatic that he could again drive. He thanked me profusely and then asked whether I thought it could pass inspection that way! I thought not!

I don’t know how many people I helped on those occasions. But it doesn’t matter. The one person I know benefited the most from those times was me. I still look back on those “no agenda” moments as times when I really experienced true worship. Those were times that I could truly see God working in the “fragrant muck and misery” of the roadside.