By RTF Editor BJ Hamrick

Has life ever surprised you?

No one plans a tragedy. When was the last time you heard someone say, “I think I’ll have a tragedy tomorrow. What do you think Harold? Is tomorrow a good day for a tragedy?”

“By gosh, Marge, I think tomorrow is a great day for a tragedy. What time should we plan for?”

Tragedy strikes us out of nowhere. I know what it’s like to be struck out of nowhere. It happened to me just recently. I was minding my own business, cleaning out my car, when wham! All of the sudden my vacuum cleaner stopped working. That was tragedy number one.

Tragedy number two happened when, not only did my vacuum cleaner stop working, but it started barfing. The barfing actually began with burping. Little hiccups, you know.

Oh, that’s cute, I thought. The vacuum has indigestion.

Two seconds later, indigestion turned into burping, which turned into barfing, which turned into a disgusting mess on the back seat of my car. But I couldn’t give up. Not now. Not when I was so close to seeing what the original color of my upholstery was. My mind reeled for a solution.

Replace the bag? No, too much work. Call the Center for Disease Control? A strong possibility. Borrow the neighbor’s vacuum? Bingo! I had a winner. I coughed the dirt out of my lungs as I picked up the telephone.

“Hello…” gasp… “Mrs. Hale?”

“Yes? Who is this?”

“It’s BJ…” cough… “I have a problem…”

After assuring her that I didn’t have h1n1 or anything else contagious, I obtained permission to borrow the aforementioned cleaning item.

“I’ll be right down,” I said.

It only took a few moments to drive the short distance to her house. I picked up the vacuum and headed home. Soon I was back in business. No problems. But somehow I’d forgotten that tragedies come in groups of three.

“I’ll be right back,” I told mom when I finished cleaning. “I’m just taking the vacuum back.”

“OK.” She smiled.

Everything was fine until I delivered the vacuum and got behind the wheel of my car. It was then that I saw the ant. He was on my foot, making his way up my leg.

“Darn ant,” I muttered under my breath.

I’m not sure exactly what happened next. I only know there was a loud noise and a sickening feeling in the pit of my stomach. A very sickening feeling. Now I knew how the vacuum felt when it vomited in the back seat of my car. Only now, I was in the front seat and my head was spinning like a washing machine on the fast cycle.

In a split second I’d collided with a tree. There was smoke coming from the hood. There was fluid pouring from the engine. There was a crack the distinct shape of my forehead in the windshield.

“No,” I groaned. “This cannot be possible… No! No! No!”

My first accident and it had to be in my neighbor’s yard. The entire world was going to know about this. I had to get away. Fast.

The car wouldn’t start, so I ran. Huffing and puffing I finally made it to the back door of my house. It was then that it hit me – I’d left my keys in the car. This nightmare was only getting worse. I had to ring the doorbell.

“Mom…” I sobbed… “Don’t kill me…”

“What’s wrong baby?”

“In… the… Hale’s… tree… there’s… a… car…”

“Whose car?”

“My car…”

“Oh baby.”

Mom was able to get the car started (funny thing – apparently it has to be in “park” in order to start). Mrs. Hale was frantic.
“PLEASE don’t tell anyone,” I pleaded with her. “I’m so embarrassed.”

Mrs. Hale held true to her word and told no one. It was our little secret. Meanwhile, long after my dad pulled the last piece of glass from the tree, I was still wondering how all of this had happened. I’d taken my eyes off the road. I’d been distracted from the one thing that mattered.

Isn’t that something we all do? Get distracted? Forget what really matters?

We are given the awesome blessing of a relationship with God. We spend time with Him, listen to His voice, and obey His commands. Then something more pressing comes along. Something that seems like a big deal at the time.
We have too much homework to spend time with God.

We have too much church-work to spend time with God.

We have too much ___________ to spend time with God.

We forget and become distracted from the one thing that matters: keeping our relationship with God intact and on track.

Sometimes, life surprises us. Sometimes things happen that we don’t expect. Goodness knows I can testify to that. But the amazing thing is that when we keep our eyes on Jesus, He takes the most difficult circumstance and turns it into an amazing gift.

And that’s the best surprise of all.

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Hey Guys! BJ here. I’m loving connecting with all of you. Do you have a question? Comment? I’d love to hear from you. Just email authorbjhamrick@gmail.com.