I’d like to begin by saying that there were so many perfect
blog ideas just in the first section of this book, it was hard to choose just
one. While Trevor and I had drastically different childhoods and upbringings, I
couldn’t help but relate to pretty much everything he wrote. But somehow, the anecdote
of an entire neighborhood praying over a turd stuck out to me. Not the most elegant
topic for a blog post, I understand… but a topic all the same, and so I type
on.
You all read it. Trevor Noah, in the presence of his blind
grandmother, decided to forego the trip to the outhouse and instead use a
newspaper. He quickly snuck the evidence into the trashcan and no one was the wiser…
until later, his grandmother reports to his mother that there is something in
the house, and they can smell it. His mother finds it, and decides it is
evidence of a bewitchment on the house. The entire neighborhood turns out for
an impromptu prayer service, singing and praying to God on behalf of the Noah
family, and Trevor ended up praying to God over his own excrement. He finishes
this story by saying “God answers your prayers. God is your father. He’s the
man who’s there for you, the man who takes care of you. When you pray, He stops
and He takes His time and He listens, and I had subjected him to two hours of
old grannies praying when I knew that with all the pain and suffering in the world
He had more important things to deal with…”
I couldn’t help but be struck by two thoughts. Firstly, how
often do we pray over our own ‘crap,’ begging for God to deliver us from it? We
place ourselves in situations and then once it goes south, we crawl back to God
asking for forgiveness and safety. Our friends and family are praying for us,
and the entire time it’s just our own crap. Trevor said that God has better
things to deal with, but for the sake of my metaphor, I beg to differ. He wants
us to come to Him, again and again. He helps us and, in His infinite power,
knows we cannot save ourselves from our mess.
The second thought that occurred to me is that I’ve heard
many fatherless children spit on the name of God, saying that they don’t have a
father and they couldn’t understand how He loves His children. Trevor Noah’s
statement is wildly different. Despite growing up with minimal interactions
with his biological father – though he had more than anticipated originally –
Trevor maintains the idea that a father is someone who protects, who takes care
of his children, and who listens.
Abbie Hedden
_____________________
Josh & Jamie
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