This rooster was crazy! He cocka-doodle-dooed at all hours of the day and night. Pretty much every morning we would wake up to discussions of how to make the rooster dinner.
On Saturday morning I woke up and heard the Muslim call to prayer. I have heard it in Africa and Haiti. It is speaking and chanting that is over a loud speaker. At the same time I am listening to this I hear the rooster start in again. And I thought... that rooster is God's creature and he is reminding me to pray. And this rooster does not just go off once a day. In fact we all joked that this rooster's clock was OFF!
Then I thought about the verse in...
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.
This rooster was sent to remind me to pray without ceasing. And oh how often do I have my time with the Lord in the morning and then start through out my day without remembering to pray, to stay in contact with the Lord, the one who sustains me and guides me?!
The rest of the trip, when I was laying in bed and heard the rooster or even when I was walking around in the day and he did his thing... I would stop and pray. It sure did allow me to give thanks for something that was working against me. Keeping me awake when I so desperately needed sleep (I can tend to be kinda cranky when I don't get sleep.) And yet, the Lord chose to use Him for good in my life!
I actually miss the rooster. I wondered while I was there, what is going to be my rooster back here in Dallas to remind me to pray without ceasing???
Photo taken by Brooke Mauritzen.
Suzanne...I so wish I had the same revelation during the week I was there. Instead of allowing it to be something that drew me closer to the Lord, it just frusterated me. Thanks for the encouragement to seek the Lord's provision even in that which makes me crazy!
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