Excuse Me, But Do You Drive a White SUV?

Did you ever have one of those mornings? The kind that seems to start off well, but then goes downhill from there? That’s what happened to me one Sunday morning while I was serving at church.

I’ve been attending my church for 23 years. If it’s Sunday morning, I’m usually pulling into the parking lot around 8:30 am and heading in to serve on a team. On this particular morning I was serving as a greeter, one of my favorite jobs. I love being the first person to smile and say good morning to someone who may or may not actually be having a good morning. It sets the tone for the rest of the service for that person entering the doors of the church. They see a smiling face, and hopefully, that encourages them to smile, even if it’s a struggle. So to me, it’s a very important job.

I’m not a morning person at all. I never have been. I’m a night person. I come alive around 4 pm. It’s my favorite time of day. So when I have to start off my day early, I’m usually rushing to arrive on time. My eyes may be open when I arrive, but inside I may be sound asleep. On this particular morning I was rushing a bit as I pulled into the church parking lot. Because, as greeters, we stand on the doors through part of the worship service we have to grab seats before service starts. Robbie and I were discussing how many seats to save for our friends. Because we arrive early to church we are the official “seat savers.” You may be one of these too. Sometimes we get a last minute text asking us to save someone a seat, so it can be a challenge to decide how many we should save, do we have something we can use to save seats, etc. So as we were getting out of the car, Robbie and I were deep into discussing how many jackets should we grab from the back of the car to use for saving seats. Apparently there was some disagreement about seats that morning, I’m not quite sure, but I know it was the topic of the hour.

We finally made a decision and walked inside the church and Robbie scurried off to save the seats. I assigned this job to her because she does it so well. I ran off to get into place to begin greeting those arriving for the morning church service. Once Robbie got the seat saving task taken care of, she too ran to stand on her assigned door to begin greeting.

After about 10 minutes or so a lady in our church walked up to me and asked, “Do you drive a white SUV?”

“Yes,” I answered.

“Someone just told me you left your car running in the parking lot.”

This is one of those moments when you don’t quite grasp what the other person is saying. So I just gave her a blank stare before answering.

“Did you say my car is running? You mean like, right now it’s running?” I asked.

“Yes,” she responded. “I’ve done that before. Is it a keyless starter?”

“Um, no it’s not,” I answered. I was still standing at the door in disbelief.

“Maybe you’d better go and check on it,” she said. “I’ll stand on your door while you go.”

“Oh, OK. Thanks!

I took off running to where Robbie was greeting. Why, I do not know.

“Robbie, do you have the keys to the car?” I asked. “Apparently we left the car running in the parking lot. Quick, give me the keys so I can go turn it off.”

Now this statement made absolutely no sense, which Robbie was happy to point out to me.

“Um, if the car is running the keys must still be in the car. I wouldn’t have them,” Robbie cleverly responded.

With this revelation, I dashed out of the church past people laughing and pointing. Apparently, word had spread quickly about our running car. I guess we were the only ones who were not aware we had forgotten to turn off the car when we jumped out that morning.

Robbie decided to take off running behind me to see for herself. There we were; running like maniacs to the parking lot, hair flying, mouths open, arms waving. We were a sight to behold.

When I arrived at the car I was praying the door wasn’t locked. (I have also left a car running with the keys locked inside, but that’s another story.) Fortunately, the door was not locked and I could get inside to turn off the motor. But then I noticed something else. The windshield wipers were running as well. However, it wasn’t raining. How or why I ended up turning on the windshield wipers, I have no idea. It was a mystery.

How could two of us walk away from a running car, with the windshield wipers flipping back and forth and neither of us notice at all? What’s two times zero?

I was speechless.

We went back inside to resume our greeting jobs, while others laughed and pointed at us for the rest of the morning. Apparently, one of the parking lot attendants noticed the running car, told a security person who told a woman who knew we drove a white SUV. So a lot of people knew before we did and it made for an entertaining moment when two frantic ladies bolted out of the church in a sheer panic, running to rescue our car. We had a good laugh ourselves. It was just one more of those funny things we could add to our list of embarrassing moments.

Have you ever had one of those moments of forgetfulness? You get busy or your mind is on a hundred other things and your brain starts operating on cruise. You actually forget to do the basic things that you do every day, like turn off the engine to the car. These moments can be hilarious, but they can also be dangerous. Sometimes we can get so busy we forget the one we serve; we forget God’s commands and we forget to trust him for our needs and desires.

“Good friend, don’t forget all I’ve taught you; take to heart my commands. They’ll help you live a long, long time, a long life lived full and well.” Proverbs 3:1-2 (MSG)

Forgetting some things can be harmless, but when we forget to put God first and to trust him for our needs, then we are treading on dangerous ground. Remembering God and acknowledging him in all things is the key to a long, well-lived life.

We spend so much time trying to figure out how to live the best life and to provide the best life for our family by staying busy, piling on more and more, focusing on minor things and forgetting about the major things in life. But none of these are the answer to an abundant life. Keeping God the center of your life is the only answer. If we remember him, he will always remember us and provide for us.

A car left running in the parking lot isn’t taking you anywhere. You have to get behind the wheel and put it in gear. You have to let the car do what it is designed to do, take you places. Having God in your life, but never letting him operate in your life is just as useless. Allowing God to be in the center of your life will take you places you never dreamed you’d go. You can’t afford to forget about him.