Kuala Lumpur June 2025 "Car park chaos"
01/06/25 23:46
When we went to church last week we found car parking to be a bit of a problem. Next door to where the services are held is a giant exhibition centre and they were hosting a major event attracting thousands of people. Well a week later that event is still on, just as popular and is about to have a major impact on us today. We have a friend visiting from abroad and coming with us to church. This is not just any friend but the most important one who has featured in several of my stories from years gone by. Now living abroad she is looking forward to seeing some of the people she knows who go to this church. My role is that of the driver and all goes well until we reach the car park. This one is underground, typical of most here in Malaysia and you know there is a problem when you are queuing to get in. We crawl around the basement car park looking for a space but it is ridiculous to imagine we will find one as it is already full and there are at least another 50 vehicles on this floor doing the same as us with more being added every minute. Time slips by and we have already missed the first ten minutes of the service. I am for dropping off my wife and friend and then 'looking' for a place to park ie, going home and coming back in an hour to pick them up. My wife has other ideas and suggests I get out with our friend and she will park the car. It is a little stressful but it doesn't really matter to me who 'parks the car 'as long as our friend gets to the service. My wife will have a much better idea where the other local car parks are than I do.
By the time we make our way into the auditorium we have missed almost twenty minutes of the service but the room is only half full. We are not the only ones having a problem parking and many have decided to give it a miss this weekend and go home. I place my bag on the empty seat next to me to reserve it for my wife and focus on the service because now it is time to tithe. I give money to the church because I want the Pastors to be paid, for the room to be hired and for everything else that costs them money. In the Old Testament tithes are expected to be at least 10% of your income but the New Testament can be read as saying that requirement is now fulfilled and we should give what is on our hearts to do so. I face a bit of a problem because my wife has not yet returned and we tithe independently so there will be no contribution from her this week but for some reason that doesn't feel right to me when I could contribute on her behalf. I make a mental calculation that confirms I should have enough to get through to my next payday, add her usual contribution to mine and drop the notes into the collection bucket.
About ten minutes later my wife arrives and takes her seat next to me. She is looking very happy and whispers that she was able to get a valet car parking space. I have to say I am very surprised to hear this because when we arrived valet car parking was already full and we were directed into the underground car park. Her story is worth recounting. After we had left her to park the car she drove out of the car park and passed the valet parking area, an area where you pay extra to park the car. We live in the natural world and there is little chance there would be a space there but God operates in the supernatural and she is praying He will provide a space for her. As she is being told by the attendant that the valet parking area is full a car right in front of them pulls out of a space and the surprised attendant says she can have that space! Now I doubt these two events are related but it is worth noting the time I put my wife's tithes into the collection bucket pretty much coincides with the parking space becoming available. Please do not misinterpret that, I wasn't trying to 'buy' (or lose) favour with God by tithing for her, it just felt like the right thing to do. I imagine my wife's prayers alone would have been sufficient to get a parking space given the importance of this weekend for our friend.
This week's "message" at the service was about God being the provider for what we need at that time. The car parking story would be sufficient on its own to demonstrate today's message but something else happened later. We went for an afternoon meal at our favourite restaurant and I attempted to pay with my bank card but the transaction wouldn't go through. I still had enough cash with me to pay for it but I had a shock when I checked my bank account because the money I had transferred into hours earlier had still not arrived. The reason being it was the weekend and the sending bank was 'asleep' until Monday morning. Whilst that money would arrive the next day in the meantime we had groceries to buy and I had very little cash left. That was not a major concern for my wife who picked up the required items and took them to the till. I gazed at the price and opened my wallet. I had just enough money to pay for them, in fact I was left with just a one ringgit note (about 20 pence in UK money). (One ringgit should sound familiar to readers of my blog with this story from 2019 and this from 2024). I had been given what would be sufficient for my needs today.
By the time we make our way into the auditorium we have missed almost twenty minutes of the service but the room is only half full. We are not the only ones having a problem parking and many have decided to give it a miss this weekend and go home. I place my bag on the empty seat next to me to reserve it for my wife and focus on the service because now it is time to tithe. I give money to the church because I want the Pastors to be paid, for the room to be hired and for everything else that costs them money. In the Old Testament tithes are expected to be at least 10% of your income but the New Testament can be read as saying that requirement is now fulfilled and we should give what is on our hearts to do so. I face a bit of a problem because my wife has not yet returned and we tithe independently so there will be no contribution from her this week but for some reason that doesn't feel right to me when I could contribute on her behalf. I make a mental calculation that confirms I should have enough to get through to my next payday, add her usual contribution to mine and drop the notes into the collection bucket.
About ten minutes later my wife arrives and takes her seat next to me. She is looking very happy and whispers that she was able to get a valet car parking space. I have to say I am very surprised to hear this because when we arrived valet car parking was already full and we were directed into the underground car park. Her story is worth recounting. After we had left her to park the car she drove out of the car park and passed the valet parking area, an area where you pay extra to park the car. We live in the natural world and there is little chance there would be a space there but God operates in the supernatural and she is praying He will provide a space for her. As she is being told by the attendant that the valet parking area is full a car right in front of them pulls out of a space and the surprised attendant says she can have that space! Now I doubt these two events are related but it is worth noting the time I put my wife's tithes into the collection bucket pretty much coincides with the parking space becoming available. Please do not misinterpret that, I wasn't trying to 'buy' (or lose) favour with God by tithing for her, it just felt like the right thing to do. I imagine my wife's prayers alone would have been sufficient to get a parking space given the importance of this weekend for our friend.
This week's "message" at the service was about God being the provider for what we need at that time. The car parking story would be sufficient on its own to demonstrate today's message but something else happened later. We went for an afternoon meal at our favourite restaurant and I attempted to pay with my bank card but the transaction wouldn't go through. I still had enough cash with me to pay for it but I had a shock when I checked my bank account because the money I had transferred into hours earlier had still not arrived. The reason being it was the weekend and the sending bank was 'asleep' until Monday morning. Whilst that money would arrive the next day in the meantime we had groceries to buy and I had very little cash left. That was not a major concern for my wife who picked up the required items and took them to the till. I gazed at the price and opened my wallet. I had just enough money to pay for them, in fact I was left with just a one ringgit note (about 20 pence in UK money). (One ringgit should sound familiar to readers of my blog with this story from 2019 and this from 2024). I had been given what would be sufficient for my needs today.