Downtown Ghetto Downtown, Police Cars, and Mustard Seeds

When I studied Psychology in college, one important thing we always talked about was Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Basically, a man named Maslow created what he thought was a list of five basic needs all humans have. The second most important need was safety. All humans desire to feel safe and secure on some level. But what he didn’t discuss was how much the need for safety increases when you have a child. When you become a parent, for most, your main desire is for your child to be safe and secure. Basically, you would give your life so that your child could be happy, healthy and out of harm’s way.

Recently, Baby Girl and I went on a business trip to a major city with The Hubs. He was going to be in meetings all day long. So it was up to me to find things for her and I to do together. We opted to try a zoo close to the hotel.

So I plugged the address into our GPS (The Hubs has nicknamed the GPS, GPSY) and we took off. GPSY can be so helpful  but she can also be the SPAWN OF SATAN when she wants to : ) So I’m assuming GPSY wanted to see me shake in my boots that day. For some reason, she took us downtown to get there. And not just downtown where there are lots of pretty shops, like ‘downtown ghetto downtown’. Here we were driving past boarded up buildings with bars on the windows and groups of people huddled in corners dressed in wife beaters. Okay say I’m judging…that’s okay. Say I’m overreacting…that’s even  okay too. But bottom line is, “I didn’t feel safe with a child in the car.” Luckily, we made it there in one piece.



Baby Girl enjoyed the zoo so much. Her favorite part was seeing the giant polar bear. She kept pointing at the bear and saying, “Ber, Ber.”

It was so hot that day that Baby Girl and I  had to get Strawberry Shortcake Ice Creams to

cool off after the zoo. She went to town on hers. Of course, most of it had melted all over her and the stroller but she seemed to enjoy the cool treat.

On our way home, GPSY decided she wanted to see me grit my teeth and white knuckle the steering wheel some more…so here I am driving to a T-interection and GPSY’s  telling me to go straight.

“What! There’s no straight, GPSY! That’s a dead end!”  So I made a quick right turn (complete opposite direction of the hotel) and GPSY had a conniption fit.

“Recalculating! Recalculating! Recalculating!” Even GPSY was having an anxiety attack : /

“What do I do?!” I say out loud. “Hurry up GPSY. Figure out where we’re going and get us out of the hood!”

Well GPSY gets to 70% recalculated and I decide I’ve had enough of looking to see if my doors are locked a hundred times and mentally kicking myself for getting Baby Girl and I in this situation. Now what happens next I usually DON’T do. But the country girl in me was desperate for some help from the Lord Almighty.

“God, please send me a white car to follow home,” I said out loud.

Who knows where the idea of a white car came from but it must have been from God. Because what do you know, a white van pulls out in front of me!

Subconsciously, I’m thinking of what my momma  always told me growing up. “Don’t go near white vans, Kim. They have people in them just waiting to snatch you up.”

But I decided that I had prayed and was going on faith with my white car prayer. So the van made an immediate right turn and what do you know again! A white police car makes a left turn at a four way intersection and gets in front of me!

“Oh thank you Jesus!" I was never more happy to see a police car. Immediately, I took a deep breath in and exhaled loudly. I didn’t realize I had been holding my breath for so long. My jaw was so sore from gritting my teeth, but I didn’t care. I was praising God for intervening in mine and Baby Girl’s life. I ended up following the police car all the way to the interstate and GPSY decided she had calmed down enough to get us back home safely…

What does that tell you about the Lord Almighty? That he intervenes at the most crucial moment? That he wants to test you? No. It tells you that, “You don’t have enough faith,” Jesus told them. “I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it would move. Nothing would be impossible.” Matthew 17:20  Lately my faith in God has been zilch—nada. I’ve been trying to get a job and it’s NOT been working. We’ve been trying to sell our house and it’s NOT been working.  The Hubs asked me the other day, while driving back home to see our family, if I had faith in God?

I replied defensively. “Of course I have faith in God. What kind of question is that?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” he said. “I just keep hearing you talk about this job and our house and it sounds like you don’t have faith in God, Kim. What does that Bible Verse say about moving mountains?"

I’m silent. Thinking about what he’s saying and looking at the mountain ahead as we drive.

He continued, “That if you have faith in God, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move’ and it will move."

The silence continued for a while and then I said, “Yah, I guess that means that it only takes a little bit of faith for God to do BIG miracles in your life.” We drove in silence, thinking and me praying the rest of the way home.