Floppy Hats and Noisy Turtles

Something horrible happened today. Something that stopped me in my tracks. And if I was totally honest with you, almost brought me to tears (and that takes a lot).

My external hard drive crashed. And it really is hard to communicate to you how much work and how many hours and how much expended energy is represented by that fact. I even lost this coming Sunday's sermon. (Something that almost made me cuss!)

This seemingly small thing, affected me in a tremendous way today. My spirits were darker than they have been for a long time. We had a prior commitment as a family to go to a Bible study earlier this evening over to the home of some very good friends of ours.

I most sincerely did NOT want to go. I was in no mood for it. But I went. And I am glad that I did. Because the time there was not what I thought it would be. You see, I thought I would just be there thinking the whole time about my computer issues and how to overcome them.

But it wasn't like that. I enjoyed my time. I slowed down. It was a little like an oasis. It was retreat-like. More than usual.

Something interesting happened before we got there that set the stage for that to be able to happen to me I believe. We were running late, and right as we were getting ready to go my wife told me that we needed to stop at the grocery store to get some ice cream to add to her homemade black bottom banana bars.

Now, logic would tell me that the pan of banana bars is more than sufficient to fulfill the desert role, but logic has never won an argument for me yet. So we went to the grocery store.

As I sat stewing in my already stressed out state behind the wheel, my wife ran into the store to get the ice cream. And then I noticed a lady coming out.

She was wearing a denim floppy hat. And as she walked closer in front of my vehicle, I saw the reason for the hat. She had no hair. None. I surmised it was because of recent chemo therapy treatments she was undergoing. She also looked skinny and pale. She was an older lady. But there was something in the way she walked.

And then it hit me like a half gallon of ice cream upside the head. I knew why my hard drive broke down in one of my more intensely busy ministry weeks of this year. I knew why my wife hadn't gotten ice cream earlier in the day ( I would have even settled for earlier that hour). You see, had those things not happened then I would not have been able to catch the lesson.

As that dear child of God walked in front of my vehicle, God whispered to me that my "problems" aren't really problems at all. I am upset over all the wrong things.

And then here's the other interesting tid bit, as I write this, late in the evening, trying to get ready for a funeral service the next morning, my turtle has decided to begin to climb and clamor and make all sorts of ruckus. This wouldn't be a big problem except for the fact that his nighttime accommodations are a 20 gallon long aquarium located next to my computer desk.

And so I was getting frustrated that as I was getting to my most important point about me being distracted and upset over all the wrong things, my noisy turtle was ruining my concentration!

I am a mere mortal man. With the attention span of a toddler and the will power of a wino and the spiritual fortitude of a twig...you'd think I have no business leading a congregation of people closer to God.

But what I do know is that when life throws out failed hard drives and noisy turtles God will have a tendency to have someone cross your path in a denim floppy hat to remind you that there is much more to life than the things we seem to focus on.

So here I am, Lord. I humbly ask you to shake me up. I invite you whole-heartedly to rock my world. And as you do those things, could you also bring my hard drive back to life and make my turtle be a little more quiet? If not, that's okay. I love how you show me your truths each day!