I’ve come to realize that I am not the person that I once was; I’ve changed a lot. Ten years ago (before I became a pastor), I was up at 5:30am, quickly moving through my morning routine before hustling off to the office, often being the first person to arrive. Now, I get up a little later, spend a little more time getting ready, and don’t feel as rushed to begin the day. In fact, when I have a seminary class beginning at 8:30am, I’m not real enthusiastic about it. I’d much rather take an evening class from 6:30-10:30pm than the early morning courses. While mornings used to be my thing, it seems now evenings are.
So, when something happens that causes a hiccup in this new morning routine, it can be a bit frustrating. Such was the case this week as I began a new course. It was supposed to start at 8:30 on Tuesday morning, but right up to that moment, none of my classmates, or I, had received any information as to how we were to access the course. Would it be on ZOOM or something else? Who would email us the link? 8:30 came around and nothing. 8:45 rolled by and still nothing. By 9:00 we still had no way of accessing the course we were to begin.
Now, in the midst of all this time, you could watch and hear the tone of people’s correspondence in the chat room, growing ever more impatient and ready to bail in accordance with the old college adage (“if the professor doesn’t show up in 15 minutes, class is over”). People were complaining about not having the syllabus or the textbooks, about how much their time was being wasted, and about how the professor was not prepared. Then, things suddenly changed. All it took was one person saying, “I hope everything is ok.” Their singular statement altered the conversation. Instead of the students being focused on themselves, they were now focused on the well-being of the professor; there was genuine concern for someone whom most had not yet even met.
I can’t help but to ponder how much the world would change if this was our regular change in mindset. Instead of being upset by the way our personal schedules are upset due to some circumstance or another, what if our primary concern was for someone else? What if in the midst of the hustle and bustle, we regularly stopped to think about, and pray for, someone else who may be going through something that we aren’t even aware of? Ironically, this is the change that is required of all Christians, isn’t it? In our call to transform the world, isn’t the change we are asked to make about putting others first? Putting them before us? Praying that you may find a way to do the same today.
Pastor Steve