God Has a Sense of Humor — What Happens When He Shows Up in the Mess
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God has a sense of humor. And if you know Him and you're paying attention, you can catch it often.
But sometimes He comes crashing through with something so loud, so perfectly timed, so absolutely hilarious, that you can't do anything but laugh, cry, and worship all at once.
This episode is one of those stories.
The Joke That Started It All
For about a year, Erik had a running joke in the Frederickson household. He'd come home and tell Mayana he had a gift for her. She'd get excited. And then he'd say. "I got you a minivan."
Every single time.
Mayana's response never changed. She didn't want a minivan. She would never drive a minivan. It wasn't funny the first time, and it certainly wasn't funny the fifteenth time.
But Erik kept doing it anyway.
What they didn't know was that God was watching. And apparently, He thought it was hilarious too.
The Road That Led to Ohio
Before the minivan story lands, you need to understand the journey that brought them there.
Early in their marriage, Erik and Mayana felt called to move to Utah. God was doing incredible things: house meetings, people were being healed and saved, a kind of underground move of the Spirit. During this time they felt God lead them to move to Utah, so they went.
It was hard. Harder than expected. Mayana, a Brazilian who had never seen snow before, found herself shoveling it. Ten months in, she looked at Erik and said simply, "I'm going back to San Diego. You can come if you want, but I'm leaving."
Erik didn't hesitate. She was more important. They went back.
They landed in San Diego, living in a friend's back room, nearly a year of trusting God while Erik was building his coaching practice from the ground up, driving for Uber at night to make ends meet, and watching Holy Spirit encounter people in his car while driving Uber almost every single night.
Eventually, the call came to move again. This time, Ohio.
Mayana wasn't about to make the same mistake twice. She came out for ten days first to check it out. In those ten days, she experienced rain, a light snow that melted by noon, freezing cold, and then heat. Classic Ohio spring.
She said yes anyway. Something about the community here, people who had been friends since preschool, who did life together without needing an appointment, called to something deep in her.
They packed everything into a U-Haul, loaded up their boys, and drove six days across the country. Erik got the job offer on day two of driving. God was already moving.
👉🏻Episode 205 - Does God Have A Sense Of Humor?👈🏻
The Minivan
They pulled into their new neighborhood. Twenty, maybe thirty minutes after arriving, they were unloading the U-Haul when their neighbor came over. She had been to some of the house meetings Erik had done in Ohio before the move. They knew each other a little.
She walked up and said warmly, "We are so glad you guys are here. My husband and I were talking, and we just want to bless you. We want to give you our minivan."
Erik started laughing.
He told her about the joke, the year of coming home and saying, babe, I got you a minivan, the eye rolls, the complete lack of amusement from his wife. Then he said, "I'm going to go get Mayana. Don't explain anything. Just tell her what you told me."
He went inside. Brought Mayana out. The neighbor said it again, totally matter of fact, "We want to give you our minivan."
Mayana's face said everything. She looked at the neighbor, then at Erik, rolling her eyes. "A minivan? I hate minivans."
The neighbor pointed down the street, "No, see that one right there? That's yours."
The next day, they brought it over with a bow. Cleaned, full of gas, wrapped in a bow, a free minivan from a neighbor they barely knew, on the very day they arrived in their new city.
Mayana loved that minivan. Because God gave it to her. And you can't help but love something God gives you, even when He's clearly laughing while He does it.
But That's Not Even the Best Part
The same day the minivan arrived, a friend deposited $7,000 into Erik's PayPal account.
No warning. No request. Just, here.
Seven. The number of completion in the Bible. A new season. The other side of the test.
The storm was over. The foundation had held. And God showed up not just with provision, but with a punchline that only He could have written.
What God Does in the Mess
This episode isn't really about a minivan. It's about what happens when you go through the storms of life, leaning on God instead of running from Him.
Erik and Mayana were honest about it: Utah was hard. Living in someone else's back room was humbling. Driving across the country on faith with two kids and no certainty was filled with uncertainties. These were real struggles, real seasons of not knowing what was next.
But on the other side of those storms, they came away with something that can't be taught in a classroom or a Sunday service. They came away knowing God a little better.
"When you go through it over and over," Mayana said, "you get to a point that you start partnering with God and say, okay, what are you doing here? You learn to trust."
And Erik put it simply: "You will trust God to the degree that you believe He's good."
Encountering God in the Storm — Mayana's Hurricane Ian Story
There's another story woven into this episode that deserves its own full episode, and they'll be sharing it soon.
During Hurricane Ian in September 2022, Erik and Mayana and their three boys stayed in their Southwest Florida home as the storm parked directly on top of them for eight hours. The sustained winds were just five miles an hour under a Category 5. Two by fours were flying past the windows. Garbage cans were airborne.
Mayana, who had battled panic attacks in her past, began to feel one coming on. She was on the floor, hands over her ears, crying out to God,, "Help me, help me, you need to help me right now."
And then something happened that she will never forget.
She felt hands come down on the sides of her face. Fingers pointing downward, cradling her head. The presence of God, physical, unmistakable, undeniable, settled on her in the middle of a Category 5 hurricane.
She went from barely holding it together to standing up with a look on her face Erik had never seen before. Peaceful. Still. Almost like she was drunk, but not on wine.
"Be filled with the Spirit," Paul wrote in Ephesians. Not with wine, but with the presence of God.
She felt those hands for over two hours. She didn't want it to end.
God Uses the Broken Ones
Before they close, Erik and Mayana land on something important.
If you think you have to be qualified, cleaned up, together, and impressive for God to use you, you've missed the story entirely.
He came for the lost. The broken. The ones who know they need a doctor. He chose twelve disciples who were fishermen, tax collectors, political radicals, and social outcasts. He picked the worst of society, transformed their lives, and used them to confuse everyone who thought they had it all figured out.
"How much more glory does He get when He uses somebody everybody looks at and says, there's no way that person can do that. That has to be God."
That is the whole message. Not that we are capable. But that He is.
A Prayer for You
At the close of the episode, Mayana prayed over every person listening:
"Father, we love you with all of our hearts. Thank you that you don't change based on anyone's circumstances, qualifications, or degrees. You are the same yesterday, today, and forever. I pray you encounter your people. Reveal yourself to them. Surround them with your protection. Show them your love. Transform them inside out, Jesus. Get their hearts. Get their families. Unite them for your powerful purpose, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen."
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