Interruptions

By: Randal Myers

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Today, September 11, 2005, marks the anniversary of the day of the greatest single attack of terrorism on American soil. Thousands lost their lives and virtually everyone in America has been changed since that infamous day. We have a new paradigm with which to view the world and our place in it because of that event.

I recently read a brief article that noted several individuals who should have been in the World Trade Center but for various reasons weren't there at the time of the attack. Here is an excerpt.

You may or may not know, the head of the company survived 9/11 because his son started kindergarten.
Another fellow was alive because it was his turn to bring donuts.
One woman was late because her alarm clock didn't go off in time.
One was late because of being stuck on the NJ Turnpike because of an auto accident.
One of them missed his bus.
One spilled food on her clothes and had to take time to change.
One's car wouldn't start.
One went back to answer the telephone.
One had a child that dawdled and didn't get ready as soon as he should have.
One couldn't get a taxi.
The one that struck me was the man who put on a new pair of shoes that morning, took the various means to get to work but before he got there, he developed a blister on his foot. He stopped at a drugstore to buy a Band-Aid. That is why he is alive today.

"...for those who love, time is eternity."

For most of us, many of these circumstances would be reasons for stress and anxiety. No one likes to be delayed or to be thrown off schedule. But for these people, the delays and inconveniences on that special day meant the difference between life and death.

Jesus met delays and inconveniences, not with a sense of stress and anxiety, but with purpose. He seemed never to be so intent on his schedule that he couldn't be diverted. He took time with a woman at the well and nearly a whole town was converted. He was stopped on the way to a medical emergency and gave real life back to a hurting woman. Rather than being annoyed with the children's antics, he embraced them and blessed them.

Maybe there's a good message in these things for us. I don't necessarily believe that ìeverything happens for a reasonî as many say. There is no scripture to indicate that God specifically engineers every life circumstance, but I do believe that God can work through us to accomplish his will in every circumstance.

In reality, our time and our schedules don't mean much in the grand scheme of things. Why not just make ourselves available during the ìinterruptionsî in life...they might just be the best time we ever spend.

"Time is too slow for those who wait, too swift for those who fear, too long for those who grieve, too short for those who rejoice, but for those who love, time is eternity." - Henry Van Dyke

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