Timing

“Timing is everything” or so I hear. When you think about the massive consequences even a few short seconds can have on your life, it really makes you think differently about the seconds that we have in our day.

For example, to the person who nearly got into a car accident; missing certain death by only a few seconds, they’re likely to be thankful that they dropped their keys on the ground before they unlocked the car door. At the time, it may have caused a small grumble. However, after the near-miss accident, they’re likely to look back on that ‘mishap’ as the greatest stroke of luck in their life.

I think about time a lot. Often, I’m reminded of the opening scene of ‘About a Boy’ where the main character; a single man who drives a Porsche, details how be breaks up his days in ‘units’ of time. When he’s finished all of his ‘must do’ items, he wonders how people in the world are able to live full lives while having a job. The similarities between me and this character are a bit uncanny…

This afternoon, I was sitting on the couch and reading the ‘Adventure Bible’ with Atlas, per his request. We read story after story, from the prodigal son to the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. When we got to the ‘rich young ruler’ – the encounter where a young man who faithfully followed his faith, asked Jesus what he needed to do to enter the kingdom of Heaven, I found myself challenged.

Jesus told the young man “Sell everything you have and follow Me.” The man was deeply troubled, because he was incredibly wealthy.

Jesus didn’t want his money – he wanted the man’s heart; his first love.

After we read that story, I received a notification on my phone that a client invoice had been paid. Without missing a beat, I told Atlas that it was time to ‘tithe’ because Dad just got money.

“Why do we give money to God?” he asked. I held up my fingers and asked him to count them.

“1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10”

I pointed to one of my fingers. “This money belongs to God. We get to keep the rest of it. That’s a pretty good deal, isn’t it?” he nodded.

I will be the first one to admit that I’m not a believer in the mindset of giving money to the church with the expectation of more. That’s an ‘investment’ mindset and I think it shortchanges people from what they truly get when they loosten their grip on their bank account;

Peace.

Moments later, I received an email that came out of nowhere. It was from the owner of a Porsche 944 parts website where I’ve shopped ever since getting the 944 – and imagine I will for the rest of my life.

The owner wrote me a very lengthy email, noting he had stumbled on my website(s) after seeing the links in my email signature. After reading my last entry about sobriety, he shared his personal testimony with me, as well as a few miraculous ways that God has moved in his life.

He closed the email with an encouragement to pray and not hesitate to ask God to work miracles in my life, because he has firsthand seen just how powerfully God can move.

I read the email to Atlas and asked him if he wanted to pray with me about something that’s been deep inside of my heart; a hope that only God could fulfill, because it requires mountains to move. It turns out that Atlas had the same hope in his heart.

So, we prayed together. I went first, and then he prayed; asking God for the one thing on our hearts.

Thirty seconds after we said ‘amen’ I got another payment notification on my phone. It was time to tithe again. Following that, I received confirmation on a bid I had submitted to a prospective client a month or two earlier.

What’s far more important to me than money is knowing that my head, heart and hands are in the right place. Today, I was fully invested in spending 1-1 time with Atlas and having peace in knowing that behind the scenes of our lives, God is at work in a powerful way.