Phone a Friend

Dan Kunz

Do you know who doesn’t want to be a millionaire? A billionaire. From 1999-2021, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire was a staple of American television on ABC. It is listed as one of the greatest American game shows of all time. Most Americans at one time or another have probably watched the show and answered enough of the questions to assume that they could win a million dollars, if only they could get on the program! It’s definitely fun to see how far the contestant can get and how far you, as the spectator, can get!

One well-known part of the contest is the use of “lifelines” when the contestant isn’t sure about an answer, or maybe has no idea of an answer. Because I wasn’t a regular viewer for the twenty years of its existence, the actual number of different lifelines available over the years was a shock. No less than twelve different lifelines were used on the program over the years. One available in 2020-21 was “Ask the Host”. Just as the title implies, the contestant is able to ask the host his or her opinion. Another was “Double Dip”, which enabled the contestant to make a second guess, if his or her first one was wrong. My all-time favorite (and often synonymous with the show) was “Phone a Friend”. If you’re not sure of your answer, you can call a friend and ask for help to think through the possible answers.

Like the contestants on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, do we often save our “lifeline” until the very last minute? After all, if you know the answer, why use up a lifeline? We are all confronted by challenges and struggles in our lives. Sometimes the problems are big. Sometimes the problems are small. It might be understandable for you and I not to want to “bother” our Heavenly Father with an issue which we can handle all by ourselves. After all, he’s busy running the world, solving big problems, averting global catastrophes, and so on. The problem with saving God for “phone a friend” moments is not that he won’t help. He will. The problem is ignoring the one who not only knows everything going on in our life, but also loves us and wants to be involved in every aspect of our life.

Imagine an earthly father (or mother) who asks, “How was school today?” A kind and loving parent wants to know all the little details of that day, not just the breath-taking ones. Parents and grandparents absolutely love to have their preschooler tell them what they had for lunch, what the class pet did, or what the teacher did on the playground. Our Heavenly Father is no different. He loves to hear about our day. He loves to have us ask his advice. He loves to kiss our cuts and bruises and put a Band-Aid on them. It’s who he is. It’s what he does. Phone a friend, any time, any place. He’s always at the other end of the line! Psalm 50:15 “…call on me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you and you will honor me.”

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