Direct Access

⁹"This, then, is how you should pray:
 'Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name –Matthew 6:9

A couple of years ago, I was helping Daniel get his first car loan and we went through my bank. I had a question while the loan was still processing and tried to call the entity that IS… BANK OF AMERICA. I called the number on their web site and of course… and as I fully expected… got one of those automated phone services. So I patiently began entering my answers through the maze. But they really made it difficult to figure out where you needed to go and they gave you no option to speak to someone and pressing “0” only made the voice say, “that is NOT an option.” I began to get really frustrated. Finally I was directed toward the path of “car loans!” Yay!  When I got there… after about – seriously – 20 minutes of this, the voice said, “If you would like to apply for a car loan, please visit our web site at www.bankofamerica.com... Good-bye!” And then it hung up on me!!!  Needless to say, we got our car loan elsewhere!

That was my MOST frustrating battle with an automated phone service. My second most frustrating was a few months later.  I called Charter Communications because our internet service at work was down.  Well… they only sent me two places… in a constant loop!  The greeting sent me to customer service and customer service sent me back to the greeting over and over.  And once again, pressing zero provided zero results.

It seems the bigger a company is, the more difficult it is to get to talk to a real person and you might as well not even entertain the idea of talking to the president or owner! They are way too important to talk to a mere customer.

Doesn’t all this make it so much more amazing that we have direct access to the Lord and Creator of the entire universe 24/7?  No intricate mazes and loops to wind our way or jump through… no technical glitches to deal with. And we go directly to the Main Man!  He’s never too busy to hear our concerns.  On the contrary… he delights in any conversation with us… even if – n o – ESPECIALLY if, it is just to say hi.

As simple as it is for us to go to our Father in prayer, it is one of our most neglected spiritual disciplines.  If your prayer life isn’t what it should be, take some time today to try to get to the auto loan department of Bank of America. I guarantee that you will be so thrilled with the direct access you have to the Father, that you will take time in prayer just to thank Him for that awesome privilege.

Lord God,

How easy it is to come to you with our concerns, our joys, our worship… whatever is on our mind!  Thank you so much for this awesome and often taken-for-granted gift. Touch our hearts with the desire to use it more frequently.  Amen.

Joys: an e-mail from a distant cousin who is researching family ancestry; sunny skies!!; looking forward to a fun weekend.