Why hiding just won't work...

On Wednesday mornings, I go to Community Bible Study (CBS) on the East side of the city. I usually love being there.

But not this morning.

On this particular morning, I was sitting in a room of 150+ people when a woman interrupts the meeting and announces, “I’m looking for Liz Conrow.” As I glance in her direction, I notice that my child is on this woman’s hip.

My brain begins to process what is happening and within a matter of .01 seconds I realize that I am probably not being searched out to be recognized for my great mothering skills. I am pretty sure they didn’t bring Amanda into this meeting to publicly recognize me for the wonderful job I am doing raising this little cherub.

And immediately, I want to crawl under my chair. I knew right away that my child either barfed all over some other kid…or bit them. Either way, it couldn’t be good.

The woman leading the meeting announces, “Liz Conrow, are you here?!” Around the room, heads begin to look left and right for this mystery mom.

I slip my hand up, quickly gather my things, and try to discreetly sneak out of the room. As if that were possible.

Humbling. That’s all I can say.

As I was fixing dinner a short time ago and thinking through this scenario, I began wonder “What does it mean?” There has to be a spiritual meaning in this somewhere. Now, I don’t over-spiritualize everything in life but this was too odd to let go. And it bothered me. In all my years of going to Community Bible Study, I had never seen a mother get called out like that. So why me?!

I began to think about how sometimes, God calls out our name just like that woman called out mine. We might be sitting in a room full of people and we know God is speaking to us. Maybe He wants us to do something…or maybe He wants us to be somewhere or maybe He simply wants our heart. And we can choose to respond or we can try to crawl under our chair.

This reminded me of good old Jonah. I love Jonah. I can relate to Jonah. God called his name and he chose to crawl under his chair. And he ended up in the belly of a whale until he decided to respond to God’s voice and obey. I get that.

I was reminded that we can ignore His voice or we can respond to Him. The choice is ours. But if we choose to crawl under our chair, that hiding place won’t last long. If I had attempted that this morning, not only would I have looked silly but I would have been discovered. It’s hard to hide in a room of that size. Especially when people know your name. And when you are surrounded by friends who are looking at you and wondering why you are under your chair.

So, if God is calling your name today - about anything - pause a moment and ask Him what it is He wants from you. Putting it off won’t make it go away. While it may seem awful at first (like getting up out of your seat in a room full of 150 people), chances are, things aren’t as bad as you may think.

So, what happened with Amanda?! I swallowed my pride and slipped out of the room, waving goodbye to the crowd like I was in a parade. I couldn’t help but wonder what everyone around me was thinking as I made my exit. I went to my daughter and took her in my arms. I found out that she had an “accident”. Well, a little more than an accident. Apparently she had the big D - ewww… I know. But things could have been a lot worse. I could handle this. I got Jessica out of her class early and we went home.

It was a teachable moment for me today. And I’m sometimes grateful for those moments…even in the midst of humiliation.