Ephesians 5:16 “…making the most of every opportunity.”
Billy Graham once said: “Life is filled with interruptions – some insignificant, others life-changing.”
In 1997, I experienced a life-changing one. I was travelling in Egypt with some friends, and our journey was interrupted for a number of days by red tape. It was hugely frustrating to have our plans and schedule so thoroughly inconvenienced, but there was nothing we could do but wait. In the meantime, we hired some donkeys and saw some sights, along with a few other tourists. As I was talking to one of them, a huge South African, I detected something vaguely familiar in his eyes: “Did you do all your schooling in South Africa?” “Yes, apart from three years at a prep school in Buckinghamshire.” It was only then that it struck me. He was my tennis partner when I was 12-years-old! That God-incident led to him changing his holiday plans, joining us at church in Cairo, then doing an Alpha Course in London, getting converted, leaving merchant banking and starting a dynamic charity back in South Africa called Starfish, which has changed the lives of tens of thousands of orphans. Thank God for that interruption to our plans, which proved to be such an opportunity for rekindling a friendship and, further down the line, leading to so many changed lives!
Jesus’ three years of ministry were characterised by multiple interruptions on his journeys. In Mark 5, he was on his way to pray for Jairus’ dying daughter when he was interrupted by a woman who touched his cloak in the hope of being healed. Rather than sticking rigidly to his fixed schedule, he seized the interruption and transformed it into a teaching opportunity as well as a time to bring healing and restoration.
This week, you will face ‘interruptions’. Try to walk so close to Jesus that you come to see some of them as opportunities in disguise.
Lord, feel free to interrupt me today in any way so that I can be used by you. Amen!
PS – I did an interview with that very South African, Anthony Farr, on the Inspired Podcast. Check it out here.
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