When life interrupts, just go with it

“We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps.” — Proverbs 16:9

Moments.

They’re memorable.

They’re magic.

They’re shining. At least for college basketball fans in March.

There’s never a dull one, right?

We point to the moment of truth.

We act in the heat of the moment.

We live for them.

We live in them.

We seize them.

Or do we?

Moments.

They’re fleeting.

The first segment of this blog is already a memory. Unless, of course, you decide to read it again.

The older I get, the more I realize that life comes at us not in waves, or even big splashes, but in moments.

And I really struggle to enjoy them.

Maybe you do, too.

Instead of making each moment count, I find myself counting the moments.

Until ...

•Deadline time

•Workout time

•Time to pick up the kids

•Time to finish the project

•Time to make the calls

•Dinner time

•Game time

•Bed time

Outcomes.

Destinations.

Trouble is, they never satisfy.

Once they arrive, I’m already thinking about the NEXT “time.”

And you better not get in my way as I’m heading there.

“Of course there will be trouble in your life. God has chosen to keep you in a dramatically broken world for your good and His glory.” — Paul David Tripp

Interruptions.

Don’t you hate them

Me, too.

Red lights

Road work.

Colds.

Sunburn.

Server crash.

The phone call at work.

The text during dinner.

C’mon, man! I don’t have time for this.

I’ve got to go.

Move, move, MOVE!

I’m not quite sure where I’m going, but I want to make good time.

So don’t interrupt me.

I’ve got things to do.

But what if ...

The “interruptions” we experience today are really the WHY of our existence?

What if ...

We changed our mindset just slightly.

What if ...

We stop saying, “I’ve got to.”

And, instead, we start saying, “I am.”

Here.

Now.

With you.

And it’s where I’m supposed to be.

That point really hit home after a friend shared the story of Shanell Mouland of Canada. Mouland was flying from Philadelphia to Maine with her 3-year-old autistic daughter, Kate, following a visit to Disney World.

“Whenever you go on a plane and you have a child with autism, it’s kind of unnerving,” Mouland said in an interview. “Any time we go out in public, we have to plan for anything because Kate has sensory issues and when she’s overwhelmed, her behavior may be unpredictable.”

She said her anxiety doubled when a man sitting next to her daughter was wearing a business suit, had a brief case in his lap and appeared to be reading important documents.

What happened next shocked Mouland.

The businessman put his papers away and spent the two-hour flight talking to and entertaining the little girl.

The mother was so moved that she wrote an open thank-you letter to him on her blog. She titled it “Dear Daddy” and it’s now been read by thousands of people.

“You could have shifted uncomfortably in your seat. You could have ignored her. You could have given me that ‘smile’ I despise because it means, ‘manage your child, please,’ ” Mouland wrote.

No doubt she had witnessed the “I’ve got to” mode on previous plane trips.

But not this time. Instead, the man and the little girl immersed themselves in video games on his iPad and played with her turtles.

The kind “stranger” was identified as Eric Kunkel, a businessman from New Jersey.

Kate knows him only as “Daddy.” That’s what she called him throughout the flight.

And today, thousands of hearts have been touched because of his simple, yet powerful, response.

“I am.”