Thought for March 13

 History:

  • 1639: Cambridge College renamed Harvard for clergyman John Harvard
  • 1781: William Herschel discovers Uranus--thought it was a comet
  • 1868: Impeachment trial of Andrew Johnson begins
  • 1884: US adopts standard time
  • 1900: France limits working day for women and children to 11 hours
  • 1925: Tennessee legislature passes the Butler Bill prohibiting teaching evolution. Scopes Trial will begin in July 1926.
  • 1930: Discovery of Pluto announced
  • 1935: Driving tests for licensure introduced in Great Britain
  • 1943: Nazis liquidate Jewish ghetto in Krakow--Schindler saves his workers
  • 1954: Braves Bobby Thomson breaks his ankle and is replaced by Hank Aaron
  • 1986: Microsoft has 1st public stock offering
  • 2004: Pavarotti performs his last opera--Tosca
  • 2012: Encyclopedia Britainnica ceases publishing a printed edition
  • 2019: Boeing 737 MAX grouded after 2 crashes
  • 2020: Breonna Taylor killed by police executing a no-knock warrant
  • Born: L Ron Hubbard [Scientology], Walter Annenberg ["Reader's Digest"], Jan Howard, Joe Bellino [Heisman from Navy], Neil Sadaka, William H Macy, Charles Krauthammer, Trent Dilfer, 
  • Died: Henry Shrapnel [created the shrapnel shell], Benjamin Harrison, Susan B Anthony, Clarence Darrow, Catherine "Kitty" Genovese [stabbed to death before 40 witnesses, none of whom came to her aide], Robert C Baker [invented the chicken nugget]
Thought:
Do interruptions bother you? You are in the middle of a television program, maybe even an "important" game--then the phone rings or you hear a knock at the door, or maybe your spouse or a child starts talking to you. Maybe I'm at my desk working on something for Sunday School and the beep on my phone sounds. How do we react to interruptions? I'm busy, I am working on something important, I really need to finish. Or maybe I am trying to check out at the store and another customer comes up with a question. The salesperson or cashier stops checking me out to answer the question. Again, I'm in a hurry, I have places to go and things to do. Don’t interrupt my day! Today I'm reading Matthew 9:18-26.

Jesus is in Capernaum and has healed the paralytic lowered through the ceiling by his friends. Jesus is speaking to the disciples of John about fasting when a synagogue official comes to Jesus with an important request--my daughter has just died, but if You come and lay your hand on her, she will live. This sounds like an emergency--a matter of death and life. A picture of our relationship with Jesus--were were dead in our sins, He touched us, and we live. Jesus immediately responds and heads toward the home of the official. But there is an interruption.

A woman is in the road. She has suffered for 12 years. She has spent all her money but has not been healed. Jarius the official wanted Jesus to touch his daughter. The woman wanted to touch Jesus. Both believed that His touch would change everything. Jesus stops and has a conversation with the woman and she is healed. But if I am Jarius there has been an interruption--Jesus has stopped walking to my house where my 12 year old daughter is either dead or dying. He has paused to speak to this unclean woman. But I notice two things--Jesus used the interruption for God's glory. To Jesus, someone trying to touch Him in faith was not an interruption. And Jarius did not complain--if I trust Jesus to heal my daughter from death or dying, I trust His timing as well. 

What do I see-
  • Interruptions provide opportunities--for compassion, for help, for the exercise of patience, for the exercise of faith in the Lord's resources and timing. 
  • Interruptions may be important. The result here was faith exercised and faith rewarded. 
  • Jesus does not let interruptions keep Him from answering our prayers. So I should not let interruptions keep me from responding with patience, gentleness and with anticipation. Jesus may be using the interruption to do something important. When that child interrupts, my attention may be something they desperately need. When Jan interrupts, my response may be an affirmation of the love I have or her. When others interrupt, it may be an opportunity to share some of the fruit of the spirit--patience, gentleness, kindness, love. 
Lord help me deal with the interruptions of life just like You did.

Blessings
Larry

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Thought for July 19

History: 1553: Lady Jane Gray deposed after 9 days 1692: 5 people hung during Salem Witch Trials 1848: First women's rights convention -Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott. Wesleyan Chapel at Seneca Falls NY 1910: Cy Young wins his 500th game 1941: US Army flying school at Tuskegee AL dedicated 1945: USS Cod saves 51 sailors from Dutch sub--only sub-to-sub rescue 1957: Firing of first rocket with nuclear warhead-Nevada 1984: Geraldine Ferraro is first major party female VP candidate 1996: Olympics open in Atlanta 2007: Madmen debuts 2018: Duck Boat sinks in Table Rock Lake killing 17 Born: Samuel Colt, Edgar Degas [painter], Lizzie Borden, Charles Mayo [Mayo Clinic], George McGovern, Al Haig, George Hamilton IV, Vikki Carr, Ilie Nastase, Stuart Scott, Benedict Cumberbatch,  Died: Syngman Rhee [President South Korea], Clyde Beatty [circus animal trainer], Mary Jo Kopechne [passenger with Ted Kennedy], Jack Warden, Frank McCourt [Angela's Ashes], James Garner, Garry Marshall
Read more

Thought for November 23, 2023

Happy Thanksgiving!  1664: Blaise Pascal is converted following a vision. He wrote the date and time of his conversion and said, "Fire. The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob. Not of philosophers and intellectuals. Certitude, certitude, joy, peace. The God of Jesus Christ." Laid the foundation for the law of probabilities; genius in hydrodynamics and hydrostatics developing Pascal's principle of pressure; taught the experience of God through the heart rather than reason; mathematician and philosopher. 1783: Annapolis Maryland becomes U.S. Capitol until June 1784 1863: Patent for making color photographs granted 1889: First jukebox debuts in Palais Royale Saloon in San Francisco 1897: Pencil sharpener patented 1904: Summer Olympics in St. Louis close [1st Olymics in U.S.] 1921: President Harding signs an Act prohibiting doctors from prescribing beer or liquor for medicinal purposes 1923: Cecil B. DeMille's first "The Ten Commandments" premiers
Read more

Thought for April 5, 2024

1722: Easter Island discovered 1792: First Presidential veto 1815: Mt. Tambora erupts. Largest eruption ever witnessed. Created year without summer in 1816--frost and snow in North America in June and July. Largest part of eruption on April 10th. Killed 10,000 in initial blast.  1906: Mt. Vesuvius erupts killing 100 1923: Firestone begins producing inflatable tires 1936: Tupelo almost completely destroyed by a tornado--216 die 1972: Baseball strike costs 86 games 2063: On "Star Trek", earth has its first contact with the Vulcan species Born: Thomas Hobbes, Joseph Lister, Booker T Washington, Spencer Tracy, Bette Davis, Gregory Peck, Arthur Hailey. Gale Storm, Frank Gorshin, Colin Powell, Pharrell Williams Died: Robert Raikes [Sunday School], Douglas MacArthur, Howard Hughes, Abe Fortas, Sam Walton, Allen Ginsberg, Saul Bellow, Charlton Heston, Honor Blackman Thought: Reading Daniel 1:5-7 this morning. Continuing with the thoughts about Nebuchadnezzar's plan. Having brough
Read more