"Don't Interrupt Me!"

When you have an expectation on how your day (or life) will go and it’s suddenly thrown off course, it can be very jarring. Recently I was on vacation with a friend. Both of us were physically and mentally exhausted from the different things going on in our separate lives. We “planned to do nothing” but relax and read. We arrived late one night and early the next morning – yes than twelve hours – plans suddenly looked very different. Kobe fell in the water and cut his paws severely on the oyster beds/barnacles (the vet and others kept calling them different things) and he had to have surgery. Twice. Fortunately, he handled it very well. In fact, my friend did too, citing that it happened in Florida, so it was okay. I, on the other hand, found it very upsetting. One reason was that it happened while I was out with the dogs and the other was that it was an unexpected interruption in our vacation. Yesterday at church there was much discussion on interruptions. Some can be good, but usually we think of interruptions as bad, particularly for “big ticket items” like cancer, job loss, and teenagers. While we are in the muckity-muck of these situations, it’s hard to see the reason for the trial. In fact, we may feel like we are being divinely picked on by God. When it happens, nearly everyone will ask, “Where is God?” Some people conclude that either there is no God or that if there is, He’s pretty awful and they walk away. However, for those who persist, who strive to understand, who may get angry but persevere, comfort comes. Perhaps there is never any visible reason why something happens. Yet, often the result is a closer relationship with God, who walked the dark valley with us. When your routine is interrupted today, look for the good. At the minimum, look for God. He is always there.