Chaplain's Corner
by Rev. Randy L Evans
Hospice Chaplain
I want to talk about an issue of time that most of the time we don’t even
discuss at all. It’s when we have good plans, a good schedule, life is heading in
one direction and all of a sudden we just get blown out of the water. Some rogue
event comes like a wave and turns our little boat upside down. What do you do
when your hopes and dreams vaporize, when delays and detours and
disappointments hit you? We’ve all faced the three kicks of time. Delays kick us, detours kick us and
disappointments kick us. And sometimes all three of these kick us all at once.
This reminds me of a story. There’s this big city businessman who went
duck hunting in Pennsylvania. He shot and dropped the bird and it fell on this
farmer’s field on the other side of the fence. As the businessman was climbing
over the fence an elderly farmer comes driving up on his John Deere tractor and
he asks the business guy what he was doing.
The duck hunter said, “I shot the duck. It fell in this field and I'm going to
retrieve it.”
The old farmer replied, “This is my property and you’re not coming over
here.”
The indignant businessman said, “I can afford the best attorney in the
United States. If you don’t let me get that duck I’ll sue you and I’ll take everything
you own.”
The old farmer smiled and said, “Apparently you don’t know how we settle
disagreements here in Pennsylvania. We settle these kinds of things with the
Pennsylvania Three-Kick Rule.”
“What’s the Three Kick Rule?” The business guy’s really curious now.
The farmer said, “First I kick you three times. Then you kick me three
times. So on and so forth, back and forth until someone gives up.”
The businessman thought about that for a minute believing he could take
the old codger and he agreed to it. Slowly the old farmer climbed down from his
tractor. He walked over to the hunter and he placed what I would call a strategic
kick with his steel-toed work boots right in the man's stomach and the man
doubles over. The second kick went right to his face. He’s down on the ground
in the fetal position. The third kick went right to his kidney.
He ’s rolling in pain. Somehow the business guy manages to stagger to his
feet. His face is bloody. He says, “All right you old coot! Now it’s my turn.”
The old farmer smiled and said, “No, I give up. You win. Take the duck.”
There’s a point here. What do you do when you face the three kicks of
delay, detour and disappointment?
1. GIVE YOUR SCHEDULE OR FUTURE TO GOD.
Here’s what I mean. It means standing before God and acknowledging, “God, You’re the one who made me and I believe You have a purpose for my life.
And, God, I want Your purposes to be fulfilled in my life. God, You know why I'm
still drawing breath. You know why I'm still occupying space on this planet. I
want to give my future to You. You lead me.” When you trust God to lead your life you learn to trust His timing. It
doesn’t come all at once. You say, “God, here’s my life.” And then it’s this whole
learning process of God’s timing.
You’ve heard it said that timing is everything. That’s only partly true.
God’s timing is everything. His schedule is the one that’s everything.
2. STAY ON GOD’S TIMING.
Here’s what happens. We say, “God, here’s my life. Here’s my future. I
submit to You. You lead and I’ll follow.” For a while we stay in step with God. He
moves, we move. He stops, we stop. He turns, we turn.
But then we hit the delays. And things aren’t going like we hoped. Then
we hit the detours and we find ourselves moving along a course we’d never
planned. Then we get the disappointments in life. Then all of a sudden we don’t
want to follow God’s timing any more. And we make one of two big mistakes we
can make when delays and detours and disappointments hit. Here are the two
mistakes we’re most prone to make. We’ll either get out ahead of God or we’ll fall
behind God.
We’ll either want to rush on ahead – “God, I'm going in this direction.
Catch me if You can.” We move too fast.
Or we hold back. God starts moving and we don’t want to follow anymore.
God starts moving fast and we say, “Whoa, God. Slow down. You go on ahead,
God, and I’ll catch up maybe a little later.”
3. TRUST THAT GOD IS WORKING WITHIN YOU.
When it doesn’t look like God is working around you, trust that God is
working within you. We pray sometimes, “God, I want You to work through me,”
and He says, “I want to. But I can’t work through you until I get to work in you.”
What we tend to do is look all around us rather than what God tends to do in us.
We stay focused on the delays and detours and disappointments rather than
staying focused on God’s work within us.
Do you have the power by yourself to turn around the events of your life?
No and neither do I. That’s why we need God.