GOLDEN MOMENTS IN TIME
By Mary Hunt Webb
Posted Monday, June 20, 2011
When my husband’s job took us to the San Francisco Bay area in northern California for a few years, we were blessed to find a small church close to our home where the members welcomed us with open hearts.
During our initial visit to that church, someone asked me, “Would you like to join the choir?”
Imbedded in that invitation was the expectation that we would return to become members.
They accepted us so completely that we felt as though they had been waiting for us. The children accepted our preschool son as though they had always known him. In turn, he joined them without crying that I was leaving him in a new place.
When we needed a babysitter, we were always able to find one among the membership. When I had pneumonia, someone from the church showed up at our door with food every evening for a week. They took care of us and loved us like we were family. After three and a half years with them, they lamented my husband’s transfer to another state.
I still communicate with a lady that was a good friend to us there. Recently, I asked her how that church is doing today. To my surprise, she told me that the church had disbanded, and that the building was sold to a different congregation.
After I recovered from the initial shock of that news, I reflected on how blessed we were to have been part of that church while we were there. If that congregation had not been there at that time, our stay in California would have been difficult. Looking back, that period seems to have been a golden moment in time.
It was a unique period of time.
During lunch one day a few days after learning the news, Morris and I were talking about those “moments in time” when conditions are just right for certain things to happen. One such opportunity happened for my father-in-law when he returned from World War Two. Many veterans had a difficult time finding employment following discharge from military service. However, my father-in-law had an uncle that had sold a particular brand of sparkplugs, oil filters, air filters, and other such parts to the military during the war. When the uncle heard of an opening in the company, he informed his nephew, and encouraged the young veteran to apply for the position. That position led to another, which led to still another. Eventually, my father-in-law became vice-president of a large auto parts warehouse in his state.
Car engines were simple enough that auto owners could work on their own vehicles.
Each of those opportunities was part of a “golden moment in time” when automobile owners could repair their own cars. Conditions were just right for him to do well during that era. Now that cars run by computers, the day of the “shade-tree-mechanic” is gone. The opportunities that he had then no longer exist.
Perhaps you are in a similar situation right now. You may be in a ‘golden moment’ now and not know it. The present is full of such opportunities that you may not recognize.
Stop to savor the moment. Pray and ask God, “Is this a ‘golden moment’?”
Ask God to guide you before you plunge ahead.
Ask Him for a specific response and expect an answer. That’s because faith is expecting and trusting before you receive an answer. Faith exists only when you can’t yet see what you are trusting for.
Hebrews 11:1: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” (New King James Version)
