Five Years Down...

Today my husband and I celebrate 5 years of marriage. Like many couples, five years allows for a lot of wonderful memories, some plain-old memories, and a handful of memories that we’d like to forget.

One of my favorite memories happened in Las Vegas on our honeymoon. With barely two dimes to rub together, we decided one afternoon to make a quick stop at Arby’s before heading out to the Hoover Dam. We waited patiently at the drive through for the attendant to let us know he was ready to take our order. We waited, and waited, and waited until finally my husband said, “Is anyone there?” The attendant replied, “Uhhh yeah. Hold on” We looked at each other kind of puzzled but continued waiting. A few minutes later the attendant said, “Yeah, what do you want?” After we ordered, he said, “Ok” and that was it. We thought he was kind of unprofessional and a little short with us but we pulled up to the window. Then, we waited and waited some more. My husband leaned forward to look into the window and said, “I don’t see anyone.” I looked at my watch: 12:15. We sat and waited some more. A few minutes later we heard a siren; as it got closer we realized that a fire engine was pulling into the Arby’s parking lot. Confused, we began to look around and noticed that smoke was billowing out of the top of the building – Arby’s was on fire! We pulled forward and saw that the entire staff of employees was gathered in front of the building and boy did we feel dense! What ever possessed the employee to go ahead and take our order is beyond me, and still makes me laugh to this day but it drives home a pretty good point. To the two of us wrapped up in our post-wedding bliss we couldn’t see what was obvious to everyone around us. We were so caught up in ourselves that we couldn’t see what was plain before us.

Sometimes in life and in ministry it is easy to get caught up in ourselves or in our own life situation and miss the big things: ministry opportunities, spiritual growth, outreach moments, etc. How different would your life look if you were truly “on guard”?

You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.
Luke 12:40

Your thoughts?