Things don't always go as planned. Today I worked on the meditation for the memorial service I'll be conducting in Virginia on Saturday. I had hoped to mow the lawn, but the old 8N was in front of the mower, and no matter what I did, it refused to start. I wasn't about to try pushing it out of the way, especially with the back blade down. If it wouldn't run, I had no way to get the hydraulics to raise the blade. No mowing today!
Linda and I headed to town for dinner with Matt and Jeanine and the kids, prior to attending Nathan's art show at his school. On the way, we dropped off Bruce's birthday gift. Unfortunately, he wasn't home, so we didn't get to personally wish him a happy birthday, face to face. We talked with his father, then headed to dinner.
Matt had asked for some pipefitting help after the art show, so I grabbed my pipe wrench and headed over for what we thought would be about a half hour job. You can imagine how THAT turned out! The only way anyone has all the right parts for a job like that is if they own the hardware. We don't, so a trip to Cassadaga was in order, and when I got there, the UDF (Ural Delay Factor) kicked in. A guy followed me into the store to ask about the bike, and it was an additional twenty minutes before I could get headed back to Matt's. The last piece we had to fit didn't want to thread in, so it was another half hour before we finished the job. I pulled into our driveway at 9:30. So much for a quiet evening at home with my wife.
One thing I learned in over 40 years of pastoral ministry is that often the interruptions ARE the ministry. We have plans and schedules, but it's often in the unplanned occurrences that God's plans unfold. Like Jesus on his way to heal Jairus' daughter, stopped to heal the woman with the uncontrolled hemorrhaging, so the conversation with Bruce's dad, and my time helping Matt were God's plan today. We can resist these interruptions or we can go with the flow. Opting for the latter keeps one from ulcers and bring opportunities that may open larger doors than we can imagine. The fellow who stopped to talk about my bike is opening an antique store in the old Catholic church, and would like to use his building and parking lot for a gathering of bikers. He wants me to bring the Ural, and I offered to bless the bikers when it all comes together. Not my plan for today, but I'm grateful for God's.
No comments:
Post a Comment