License Plate Theology
August 27, 2023
I remember exactly where I saw the license plate. My daughter, Rebecca, and I were driving up the hill past Cedar Crest, the Governor’s mansion, and we were discussing a situation that needed to be resolved by a certain date. My eyes caught the license plate ahead of us—GODKNOS. Wow! I didn’t expect to get such a quick answer and I certainly didn’t expect it to come via a license plate. And this is what happened. Within a little over a month, the situation was resolved and at precisely the right time. We now often repeat that phrase when we are faced with a perplexing need: God knows.
Here’s an example of God’s knowledge of things from a little-known story, told by Matthew.
Peter was approached by the collectors of the temple tax. It was time for them to pay. The tax was required annually and was used for the upkeep of the temple. Jesus and Peter discussed this. Jesus was willing to pay the tax even though, as my commentary stated, Jesus Himself was greater than the temple.
This was Jesus’ instruction to Peter:
Go to the lake and throw out your line.
Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth and you will find a coin.
Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours.
And the coin was the amount that was needed. Now that is a fish story!
A few months later, I pulled up behind a car at church and I laughed when I saw the license plate. So simple, but with a lot of meaning. . . OH WELL. It’s another way of saying “that’s how the cookie crumbles.”
We could surmise that a deeper meaning would be that of acceptance of a situation. Paul was\ an example of this, and he concludes a letter with these amazing words:
I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I can do everything through him who gives me strength.
One of the most memorable lessons I received from a family group that Rebecca and I were a part of was the idea of “radical acceptance.” The topic was covered in a hand-out provided by our leader and written by an amazing author, Marsha Linehan. She changes lives with her skills teaching, developed because she has mental illness and she prayed that if God would get her out of her hell, she would help others get out of theirs. She says you have to accept where you are before you can move forward. You don’t have to like where you are, you may not want to stay there, and sometimes you have to accept that you can’t accept, but that’s progress.
I think this is a deeply spiritual concept and it has made a big difference in my life to work at this skill—to say these words—"oh well."
I was awaiting the third part of the “trifecta” and it happened one day at the intersection of Gage and 29th . The license plate just in front of me said PRAZEHIM.
David said a lot about his troubles, but he also said a lot about praising God. Here is an example:
Though you have made me see troubles, many and bitter,
You will restore my life again. . .
I will praise you with the harp . . .
I will sing praise to you.
He concludes the longest book in the Bible with . . .
Praise Him for his acts of power;
Praise him for his surpassing greatness.
Let everything that hath breath
praise the Lord.
We had moved to northern Kentucky, and I wanted badly to stay in Oklahoma. However, we had to go where my husband’s teaching job took us. It was a whole year before I came to the point of being able to echo what Paul said — “I have learned in whatsoever state I am in, therewith to be content.” (And he didn’t mean the state of Kentucky!) I was driving over the bridge from Cincinnati, Ohio, back home to Kentucky from work and these words penetrated my heart. The acceptance led me to see my situation in a totally different way. I saw the beauty of where I lived and worked whereas before I saw only the negatives. Besides, being a college professor at Northern Kentucky University gave my husband the opportunity to teach George Clooney in Freshman Speech class!
So, consider these words: GODKNOS, Oh Well, PRAZEHIM.