THE WRONG PLACE AT THE WRONG TIME

image courtesy of photo bucket.com

image courtesy of photo bucket.com

The sun was clocking out for the day and being run out of town by a vicious storm that goes by the name of El Nino in these parts. I peered out the gym windows rooting for the retreating sun to make a stand, at least for a moment, so that I could make a mad dash to my car.

It doesn’t rain much in Arizona, but when it does it makes up for lost time. Not one of us desert rats in the lobby of the gym trying to wait it out thought to bring an umbrella. Being in the wrong place at the wrong time is a fairly common occurrence in this life.

Back in the days of youthful exuberance and trying to live life as large as the state of Texas I was in a few car wrecks. One, in particular, had a buddy of mine riding shotgun in my little jacked up four wheel drive pickup.

We were sitting at a red light in the right-hand turn lane of a mega intersection in the heart of old Phoenix. The worn full sized three quarter ton faded gold Ford pickup hit us at full speed. I never saw it coming.

While I had zero guilt in the whiplash lesson and could just chalk it up to being in the wrong place at the wrong time, that wouldn’t tell the entire story. The truth is, it was a Saturday night, well Sunday morning technically, and we, like the roughneck that hit us, had just closed down a club. The difference was that the hit and run artist was knee walkin’ drunk.

While we were definitely in the wrong place at the wrong time, no one had us there against our will.

I think the old adage about the wrong place at the wrong time might also apply to more than physical places. In fact, I think sometimes it’s where we’re at mentally that causes us to roam into the wrong places and occasionally harms way physically.

It doesn’t matter if we’re using planes, trains, or automobiles as the vehicles to take us where we desire to go. When ego, pride, and the flesh are driving us we’re headed for a crash. With enough crashes, physically and spiritually, the bumps and bruises begin to guide the chosen and wise.

Drawing nigh unto God in earnest has a way of opening our eyes and minds to see this world more clearly than the amazing gift of our physical eyesight. It also has a way that tends to take us out of harm’s way even when we’re smack in the middle of it.

Peace and joy are found in shedding pride and bathing our soul in humility. What pride seeks to find and fulfill in the flesh that comes up short every time, humility before our Maker delivers; we are lifted up.

Without God’s guidance, we’ll continue to find ourselves in the wrong place at the wrong time, every time. In Him is where we will always be in the right place at the right time.

The only good in me… is Him.