Father, regardless of what is going on in the world around us, You remain the constant. I find great comfort in You being the same yesterday, today, and forever.
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This past Monday, early on my high school/middle school route I turned onto a road in the semi-darkness and not two hundred yards ahead a deer crossed the road. When he saw me, he stopped perpendicular to the bus, standing stoically near the left shoulder right in the crosshairs of my high beams. The beautiful 8-point buck looked squarely at me for a few seconds and then turned and continued on his trek into the woods.
The above picture is not mine – I found it online. It would have been cool if I could have gotten a picture but one, we’re not allowed to have our phones out on the bus and two even if we were, I wouldn’t have had time to get it out and open my camera app to take a picture.
Over the last couple of years, I’ve taken pictures of abandoned homes, beautiful spring flowers, and magnificent autumn trees. But there was no way I could go back and snap a shot of that buck. It was a random interaction that will probably never happen again in that spot, in that way. Indeed, it was a fleeting opportunity…there at one moment and irretrievably gone the next.
How often in our lives do we encounter unexpected opportunities? At times we have the privilege of acting upon them and other times the openings for interaction quickly present themselves and are gone in the blink of an eye.
Reading through the Gospels, we see that Jesus never missed opportunities like that. He acted quickly…and things were never the same when He did so. I understand that in addition to being totally man, He was also totally God which gave Him foreknowledge of peoples and circumstances. But are not we all His children? Are we not to pursue with all that is within us to become more and more like Him each day of our lives?
Recently Karen and I visited a local Cracker Barrel. Shortly after we were seated an older gentleman was seated not too far from us. Earlier I had held the door for him to enter and then before we were seated, I noticed that employees had provided a chair for him while he waited for his table.
I leaned over and told Karen that if we weren’t in the middle of this whole COVID thing that we should’ve invited him to join us and she said she had thought the same thing.
The sad part is, I let it go at that. I could have slipped my mask back on and sat across from him and chatted before his food arrived…but I didn’t… Opportunity missed? Only God knows…
This past weekend we picked up a few things in Columbus. While we were loading them into the back of the van. A man, who was obviously in need, asked if we could help him out. Our reluctance was obvious, and he left muttering apologies if he had made us feel uncomfortable.
My mind raced to a sermon about comfort in mourning that I had delivered a couple of weeks back and I remembered someone close to us had given us some money to use where we saw fit to help those in need.
Karen and I quickly pooled some cash together and ran after the gentleman. After a short conversation, I slipped him the cash, and with a heartfelt “God bless you” and left him to go his way.
Don’t you think that to truly embrace Jesus’ love for us that it is of the greatest necessity that we love our neighbors, as we are reminded of His deep, deep love for us? Make the most of every opportunity for far too often the openings for interaction quickly present themselves and are gone in the blink of an eye. Amen.
“Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” Matthew 5:16 NIV
“Give to everyone who asks you…” Luke 6:30a NIV
“Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.” Luke 6:36 NIV
Nov 11th, 2020, Wed, 1:10 pm
