Christmas in July?!?

By Dr. David Weyrick, Senior Pastor

I kid you not!  Needing a card to send for a friend's birthday, I went into a namebrand card store.  Caring "enough to send the very best" I wanted one of those cards that plays music.  To say my jaw dropped as I entered the store is an understatement.  Were my eyes deceiving me?  Was I dreaming?  As I entered the store, there was a huge display for Christmas ornaments.

     "It's the middle of July!" came out of my mouth in a noticeable voice. 

     "And they've been up for two weeks already," a clerk said excitedly, as if Christmas was only a week away.

     "Why?" I asked.

     "Why not?" she said.  "People are looking forward to the holidays."

     I hadn't even finished unpacking from the family vacation to the beach yet.  Nothing against Christmas, but six months ahead of time?

     I started looking for a card that plays music for my friend.  I no sooner looked up when I saw another display.  This time for Halloween cards.  I couldn't handle it and left.

     So, call me Scrooge or Grinch or Oscar the Grouch.  I'm just not ready for Halloween or Christmas in July.

     As I was walking home(the store is in my neighborhood) I got to thinking about timing.  My music and drama background emphasizes the fact that "timing is everything."  But can something come too soon or even too late for that matter?  And then, what about God's timing?

     God's timing is good.  As a matter of fact, it's perfect - not in human understanding, but in His understanding.  MMy wife and I learned that this summer during my sabbatical.  God's timing allowed us to have the time to be able to move her mom to Akron from Kentucky.  That meant cleaning out two houses, selling, packing, selling a car, moving, unpacking, getting medical records, seeing new doctors, fixing up the "new" house, and handling lots of "this that and the other."

     God's timing is good.  All sorts of things had to fall into place with all kinds of people to allow the move to happen.  We saw that.  If one real estate agent hadn't moved, we would have never worked with another who had a contact who just happened to know someone who worked at the same nursing home where Beth's mom stayed after she had to have surgery to relieve blood clots.  Then, if a new neighbor hadn't moved in next door to Beth's mom who happened to have a brother who was seslling some family property, her car wouldn't have gotten sold.  And on it goes.

     God's timing is good.  Timing is everything.  Why?  Because the more we recognize it, the more we look forward to it.