Prayer At The Pump, and Pray For Orderly Priorities, Gas, Driving and Recreation by: Michael D. Tobin

Prayer At The Pump, and Pray For Orderly Priorities, Gas, Driving and Recreation by: Michael D. Tobin

March 6, 2011
Gasoline, driving, recreation and priorities. We all have all these in different order. It's like no two people are the same. It changed for me when I prayed to God for all of this to be orderly and for some strange reason in the universe I got above and beyond what I could ask for, though I did specifically pray to be close to work. Talk about above and beyond. After the gas prices from mid-2008 reduced to near $2.00/gal, I got a job as a maintenance Supervisor for San Diego's largest property management company, where I live where I work, reducing my commute travel/gas expenses to $0 a month. 
In 2008 with gas prices in the mid $4 range, I was filling up in Tijuana at half the price. Somehow, in the latter part of 2008, prices dropped below $3.00/gal. I was inspired to pray about my priorities, gasoline, driving and recreation in 2008 when the news showed a group of women holding prayer meetings at gas stations in San Diego, when EVERYBODY said $5.00/gal gas is going to be normal. And I gave God the pleasure of puting my requests in the proper sequence, as I was too mind-boggled to try, and be wrong. Plus it doesn't matter with God, because He is the Great Decider in the sky, (and our heart?). So prices went from the $4.50 range back down to the under $3.00 and by some reports, just above and below $2.00/gal. Those were smart ladies. Now there's proof that higher gas prices don't have to be high.
The rubber meets the road when it comes to the workforce being able to work or not. Public transportation for work is just as expensive as using a mid to small size vehicle now. Take my son, Michael, for example. He's going on his 1st yr at a new job with the company I work for. He purchased trolley tickets and had to ride a bicycle, trolley, and bicylcle to complete one-way commute to work. Then repeat after work. He did that for a few months. His commute, also, reduced to $0/expense because he now lives in the highrise property he helps maintain and manage. But he suffered hard before that happened. But he did not just suffer, he endured.
The latest headlines blasting our faces as we stare into the monitor is "What if gas cost $10 a gallon?" ( http://money.msn.com/how-to-budget/what-if-gas-cost-10-dollars-a-gallon.aspx?GT1=33029 ). )-;
As we see in mention of my personal prayers and the praying ladies at the gas pumps, it IS possible to change this, )-; , to THIS(-; So about the praying ladies at the pump, for your interest, curiosity, or just plain humor, here's the quick sumary of who, what, where, when, why, and this time, how;

July 12, 2008, the "Prayer At The Pump" movement founder, Rocky Twyman and church members prayed at a Shell gas station in Washington D.C., as reported by the THE TELEGRAPH, IN ENGLAND. ( http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/2753277/Prayer-at-the-pump-for-lower-petrol-prices.html ) Mr Twyman, 59, a member of the Seventh Day Adventist church, told The Sunday Telegraph: "We believe in the power of prayer. We have seen the power of prayer in our own lives. At my church there was a woman with breast cancer."We prayed for her and she went to the doctor one day and it was gone. It really strengthens my faith." While petrol prices have risen from under $3 (£1.50) a gallon to more than $4 (£2) a gallon nationwide, Mr Twyman claims some localised success.

There are scores of other news articles and blogs, all from the mid-2008 time, and ultimately before the end of 2008, gas prices actually reduced to near $2.00/gal. And it wasn't until before that drop, that the founder of "Prayer At The Pump" whent the extra mile, and prayed in front of the Saudi embassy, as reported July 4, 2008.  "I think we have just entered a new phase," said Twyman. "We were in the prayerful phase, but now we're going into a more activist phase, because we feel that whole faith without works is dead." ( http://www.newser.com/story/31637/dear-god-please-lower-gas-prices.html ).

So here you have it. I was immersed in all the articles and speculations on the ins-and-outs of the mechanics of what moves prices up and down back before and after 2008, and I had a head-full and eyes full of all that, which, when it comes to prayer, and even simle actuality, is simply garbage. I evenb heard the financial shows' host of "Mad Money" with Jim Cramer, say that even he, with all his experience and knowledge of the stock market, did not know that what reports and indicators showed companies to be strong, that they too, turned out to be weak, in the 2008 market drop. He literally said that everything that was indicated to be true, became not true.
So in closing, though above I mentioned all of our priorities, gas, driving, and recreational needs are different, I will suggest these things, that are applicable in ALL situations: keep your driving and recreational patterns to a bare minimal throughout the year, so you can afford the bigger and exciting events that are as faithful to arise throughout the year as Old Faithful the Yellowstone geyser. Pray when you go to the pump, and pray for orderly priorities, gas, driving and recreation.
And finally, here are spending, driving and recreational habits I began changing since 2000. I realized in 2000, that I was driving excessive miles, in literal circles, shopping for "better deals" with groceries and household goods, in a small city in Central Oregon where I lived for 7 yrs. I realized my gas consumption was huge. How could that be in a small city?  Stoplights, stop and go, and distance from home to destinations and work, all factored in. My solution was to get my supplies at only one of the three major shopping regions of the city. And I would use each region, but just one at a time. Great savings. Instead of special trips for individual needs, I combined at least two to several in one trip in the SAME area. The goal is to NEVER drive the whole cities perimeter. Just do the math and geography, and save save save. And another big idea was to stop going places JUST to show my face, and the trips become un-fulfilling. Quit wasting time and gas trying to set an image. All the wasted trips stopped, and left me with more to do the things I REALLY want to do, with people who I really want to see. That is very important too. It's a hard lesson but necessary. Pray for your individual challenges, and watch God work.