| “While they (Mary and Joseph) were there, the time came for the baby to be born…” |
| —Luke 2:6 |
Have you heard the expression: “Timing is everything!”? That phrase expresses the concept that for every event in our lives, timing plays a very important role. Please allow me to illustrate this point:
When I first matriculated to Houghton College— now known as Houghton University—in the fall of 1965, I arrived on campus—like everyone else in my class—as a lowly Freshman. I was very familiar with the College because it was only 55 miles away from my home, I had visited the campus many times over the years, and for the two previous years, I had dated a woman, who was now a Junior. Even so, as a Freshman, I had no status whatsoever.
I gravitated to the college radio station, WJSL. In fact, my Junior Class “Big Brother,” with whom I had corresponded over the summer, had been elected Manager of the station. So, when I walked in the door, my reputation as someone who had six years of previous experience in commercial radio broadcasting had preceded me.
The first person I met was a Junior at the college and the only other person on the college radio station staff who had previous commercial radio experience. Needless to say, he and I became friends and eventually did a radio program together called “Music ’til Midnight.”
Sitting in the daily Chapel Service, I began to notice that the auditorium was having problems with the sound system. All of a sudden, in the middle of the service, the system would go completely dead. The sound control booth was uniquely located in the very front of the auditorium, to the left of, and on a level one floor above, the proscenium-less stage. Through the very large double glass window that looked out onto the stage, I could see people scurrying around inside.
Just as suddenly as the sound went off, it would come back on with a blast of feedback. Naturally, I wondered what was wrong. But, I was a lowly Freshman and had no connection with anyone in authority to whom I might offer my services.
A couple of weeks later, I got a message to please see the Assistant Business Manager. I went to his office. He asked if I had experience with sound systems. I described some of the activities on which I had previously worked: the commercial radio station, chief engineer for the local theater company in my hometown, sound system work for my church and for my junior high and high school. He asked me if I would take a look at the system in the Chapel to see if I could find out what was wrong with it. He explained that College electricians had spent many hours trying to troubleshoot the problem, but had no success in solving the intermittent outages.
So, I arranged to visit that control booth. Eventually, as I played some music through the system, it went dead. As I was poking around in the back of the several racks of audio gear, I suddenly stood up and hit my head on a little subassembly that had been attached to the side of the rack. With a blast of sound, the system came back to life.
I examined the subassembly and discovered a potentiometer (volume control) that someone had rigged up to control the level to the main audio feed for the system. It was full of dust. I used my handy spray can of cleaner to remove the dust. And, as if by a miracle, I “fixed” the problem. Inspite of the College electricians having spent many hours trying to troubleshoot the problem, seemingly by dumb luck, I found and fixed the cause of the outages in about twenty minutes.
Was I some kind of genius? Of course not! I was just there at the right time and stumbled onto the cause of a long-standing problem. Did I have startlingly good luck? Or, did God have a plan to put me in a place where He wanted me to be?
You see, timing is everything. As a result, the Assistant Business Manager hired me to serve as Director of Auditorium Operations, a job I held for the rest of my years in college. And, as a result, I enjoyed the privilege of possessing a Faculty-Staff Parking Permit that often proved of great benefit.
In the most minor and the most significant events in life, God’s timing is everything. Mary and Joseph discovered this reality when they made the very long journey to Bethlehem from Nazareth in Galilee, in order to register for the census and pay their taxes. Dr. Luke describes it this way in Luke 2:6-7:
While they (Mary and Joseph) were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.
“When the time came…” or “In the fullness of time…” or “At the point where every plan God had put into place came together…” However one tries to express it, the fact remains that timing is everything. God caused the birth of His one and only Son, Jesus, to occur at just the moment and in just the specific place that He had chosen.
So it is in our lives. As we begin another day, let us remember that the timing of the events in our lives does not occur based on happenstance, or luck, or any other human-created reason. God has ordained every second of our lives. Because He loves us with His everlasting, unfailing, undying love, He will execute the timing for our “life events” in accordance with His perfect plan for us. And that, dear ones, should give us a true sense of security, comfort, and peace.
Based on a blog originally posted on Sunday, December 25, 2016
