Faith Amidst the Frustration

Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on a business and make money.’ Why you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.’” (James 4:13-15)

Anyone who has lived near train tracks knows the hassle and inconvenience a passing train can cause. Is it just me or have you found the same? You’re running late for that meeting or picking up one of the kids, you approach the train tracks and then it happens – the barriers start flashing and the poles come down. It’s a frustrating feeling, to say the least.

Imagine if that happened as you were trying to qualify for the Boston Marathon. This is exactly what happened to more than 100 runners in Pennsylvania recently.

Race officials had communicated with the railroad line prior to the race day and received “absolute assurances” that all trains would be suspended during the race. However, during the race, the runners found a slow-moving train obstructing their course and, sadly, one runner using the race as his last opportunity to qualify for the Boston Marathon missed his qualifying time by just eight minutes.

So tough.

Reading this story made me think.

Perhaps you have a delay in your life right now. Maybe you were trucking along in your plans making great time, but something has stalled and you’re frustrated, agitated and ready to kick a wall. Take a breath. In fact, James reminds us in James 4:13 that life is just that – a breath, a mist, a vapor. So today, I am going to remind myself that God’s plans are higher than mine. I am going to breathe when presented with an obstacle and then remember that, just as I pray in the Lord’s Prayer, so it should be within my day today:

“Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

What do you say? Join me?