The Irish Preacher, Habakkuk, and Peter the Uber Driver

A story about God.

Oct 02, 2023

Don’t want to read?
Listen to episode 90 of The Walk A Little Slower Podcast.

I stepped outside one of the Houston airports and my phone dinged.

“Peter will be arriving in 3 minutes to pick you up.”

And he did.

A gray Toyota Sienna pulled up and Peter stepped out.

There were cracks in his windshield, but a smile on his face.

He gladly welcomed me into his van the way most grandmothers would welcome you to their kitchen table.

His English wasn’t perfect, but mine ain’t that good either.

The blast of air conditioning hit me like a wave, keeping me cool from the threat of the Texas heat.

Texas doesn’t mess around when it comes to heat or BBQ or football.

I sat down in the backseat and from the speakers I heard a man with an Irish accent say, “God is always at work.”

The preacher was preaching from the book of Habakkuk.

It’s not a very popular book, the Bible, mostly because it’s a difficult word to pronounce.

These days parents are naming their children a lot of strange things, but I’ve yet to meet a Habakkuk.

Or a Judas, but that’s for a different reason.

The book of Habakkuk is a short three chapters written during a time of injustice and idolatry. There were threats pressing in on Israel as they feared the rise of Babylon. Throughout the book we hear Habakkuk wrestle with God as he tries to believe God is good when there seems to be an endless flood of evil and tragedy in the world.

This feels familiar.

The Preacher tells us that Habakkuk’s words are poems of lament, similar to the Psalms and that Habakkuk is asking God to do something.

This feels familiar.

My prayers have felt more like Psalms of lament and less like hymns of praise.

The Preacher tells us how Habakkuk is frustrated with the slowness of God.
Peter and I both hmmmed.

The Preacher goes on to say that and Habakkuk wonders how God will make the wrongs of the world right.

Peter honked at another car as The Preacher reminded us that God is sovereign over all things.

Sometimes I forget that the hand of God isn’t just capable of being powerful, but beautiful too.

He isn’t just God, but a Creator who makes something beautiful out of nothing.

The Preacher said, “Some of y’all are praying for God to take something away from your life instead of asking Him to lead you through it.”

Peter and I both hmmmed.

The Preacher then talked about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego

He told us that God didn’t deliver them from going into the fire, but delivered them while they were in the fire.

Peter and I hmmmed again.

Before The Preacher could get out his next sentence, Peter cut off five cars and it was a brilliant driving move.

“Nice!” I said from the backseat.

Peter gave a side smile, the one you give when brilliance is recognized.

The Preacher talked about Daniel.

God didn’t deliver Daniel from going into the den of lions, but delivered Daniel while he was in the den with the lions.

Peter and I hmmmed again.

The Preacher told us that God will lead us through.

Sometimes I want to call an Uber and be taken away from the situation I’m in.

I want to press a button and in 3 minutes be picked up and taken from my worries and fears and pain and troubles.

I don’t want to wait, I want to be comfortable.

But Peter and I are being reminded that the uncertainties and tensions and fears are answered and met by God. God isn’t in the business of ignoring or being distant.

The Preacher was beginning to end his message.

I only knew this because the clock was getting close to the end of the hour and the radio station needed to play it’s commercials and ask listeners to give.

Also, because The Preacher mentioned Jesus.

Every sermon ends with Jesus.

“Jesus!” The Preacher announced in his Irish accent.

The name of Jesus sounds beautiful with an Irish accent.

“Jesus is the way forward and through.”

Peter and I hmmmed again.

The Preacher talked about the cross and how Jesus endured injustice.

Jesus wasn’t delivered from His death on the cross, but went so that we might have life.

Hundreds of years after Habakkuk wrote these three chapters this is how God decided to make wrongs right.

We cruised down the right lane, passing car after car, before exiting off the highway as The Preacher announced grace and hope and forgiveness in and through Jesus.

The Preacher invited and encouraged us to wait and trust with faith.

Peter and I hmmmed again.

Peter and I didn’t say more than a few sentences to each other while we were together.

We were strangers, but it wasn’t strange.

There was a peace in the van.

Maybe it was the Irish accent of The Preacher.

Maybe it was the reminder of God’s sovereignty.

Maybe it was the air conditioning of the fan giving reprieve from the Texas heat.

Or maybe it was because where two or three are gathered, God is with them.

Hmmm.