Learning to Ask The Lord

I still have the London trip on my mind, today. (See yesterday's blog entry for details on the London trip.) Today, I'm reminded of another lesson that the Lord taught me on that trip: learning to ask the Lord.

John 14:13-14
And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

When Mrs. Scale grabbed my hand and said, "It's time we pray", we were in the middle of pedestrian traffic.

My first reaction was, "You want us to go back to the church to pray?"

There were two problems with my perspectives:

1. We pray in church and in the privacy of our home, but we don't ask the Lord to help us while we are standing in the middle of the sidewalk.
   
2. I really wasn't expecting prayer to help so I was reluctant to go all the way back to the church, just to pray.

I knew and could recite verses which proclaim God's faithfulness to hear our prayers and act on them. Yet, until Mrs. Scale got me to pray with her on that corner in Leyton, I never internalized the principle that whatever I ask in His name, He would do; and it doesn't matter when and where we were asking.

Later during the London trip, the Lord gave me opportunities to practice this newly learned lesson.

On the evening in which Mrs. Scale and I met them, we didn't have any Chinese Christian literature for the Chinese couple who came from Vietnam.

So, as soon as we left their place, I was already racking my mind trying to figure out where I can obtain Chinese Christian literature. I was considering, calling my mom to get her to FedEx material to me. I was considering looking for a Chinese church in London. I was considering...

Then, I realized, I need to pray.

The next day, we went on a tour of churches in London. The first church that we visited was a multi-ethnic church whose members literally come from all over the globe. In that church was one of the most well stocked Christian bookstore I have ever visited. They carried books in a multitude of languages. And yes, there was an entire section for Chinese Christian books. I excitedly ran to that section.

My excitement died as soon as I arrived at that Chinese book section. I don't read Chinese!

I frantically looked for someone to help me pick out books for the couple.

When I finally found a store clerk, he told me that the guy who worked in the Chinese Book section was off that day.

Quickly, I tried to devise a strategy for selecting the books that I wanted to purchase: look at the pictures inside the book!

Grab a book; flip page, flip, flip, flip. Grab another book, flip, flip, flip. Grab another book... No luck. No picture in any of the books! Aaaaaugh!

Then, I realized, I need to pray.

As soon as I got up from my kneeling position after praying, the guy who worked in the Chinese Book section came into the bookstore. Evidently, he left his jacket behind the counter and he came in to retrieve it.

OK, God, I think I finally learned the lesson.