“Dad,” my youngest daughter
said to me. “What is gas money?”
This was an odd question coming
from someone who is not quite six years old and I wondered at the meaning
behind it. Still, I answered it the best
that I could. “When we drive somewhere,
Elise, it takes gas and that costs money.
I guess you could say that gas money is the money it takes to buy the
gas to get to that place.”
Elise was silent for a moment. Since
she was not someone of driving age, nor was she tall enough to operate gas
pumps, this was all a bit beyond her reckoning.
Then, she said, “I need gas money!”
“Why do you need gas
money? You won’t be able to drive for
ten more years?”
“I need to gas money because I
want to visit another country,” Elise said firmly. This has been a theme from her of late. She has not visited another country, and this
saddens her greatly – particularly since various members of her family have
spent time in other lands, far from here.
“What country do you want to
visit?” I asked.
“Kentucky!” She said.
“I have heard of Kentucky,” I
said. “That is yon distant land on the
other side of the Cumberland Gap. Well,
I’ll tell you what, one day we will visit that country and Mom and I will take
care of the gas money to get there. How
about that?”
This seemed to satisfy her, at
least for the moment. We may not visit
that land of rolling hills and horses and bluegrass soon, but certainly we will
someday, and she need not worry about the costs of such an adventure.
The verse comes to my mind, “And
my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by
Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 4:19)
All too often, we look forward
and worry about how we will survive, much less thrive in the stress that awaits
us. There are all sorts of needs in our
lives and more often than not, we feel like the gas gauge is hovering just
above ‘E’ and the gas money is depleted as well.
It is in these moments that our
Heavenly Father wants us to turn to Him.
He has sufficient to meet our needs – and more besides. He only wants us to learn to trust Him.
When God has a path for us to
take, He will make certain we have all the resources we need to reach the
destination – even if He plans for us to travel to that distant land of ancient
tales, Kentucky.
