Skip to main content

We Interrupt This Broadcast

By July 17, 2012August 30th, 2022Devotional

It was a busy day. Late this afternoon, I received notice that my car, that has been in for service since Friday, was ready. I left the cafeteria around 5:15 to head north to Carmel to get my vehicle before the dealership closed. As I pulled up in the loaner car, I saw my car being pulled around front and I went in to pay the bill. Among other things, the power seat switch was replaced last year and has never really worked right. As I got in the car to drive away, you guessed it, the switch still wasn’t fixed. So…. the car goes back on Friday morning for another two days. This is getting old…

Next, since Janet was busy with an evening meeting, I decided to run several errands that I didn’t have time to do during the day. A quick run to Keystone at the Crossing, Bed, Bath and Beyond, Best Buy, the post office and a couple of other stops completed my agenda. I pulled into the garage, emptied the car and walked in the back door. The sky was almost black and so I figured it may rain, but I thought I had time to walk Lexie around the block. When it is so hot outside, she doesn’t do well on long walks, but this would give her a chance to stretch her legs a little. It was incredibly humid, but I got her leash on and we spent 20 minutes strolling around the neighborhood.

We got back just as several raindrops hit the ground. Could we be so lucky as to actually get rain, after more than 45 days with a total rainfall of .09 inches? So, thankful that I wouldn’t have to go out and water the flowers, I sat down to watch TV. After a long day with the chores behind me, it was time to kick back, relax, and catch a little TV before Janet got home. After all, Janet has her shows that she likes to watch and sometimes they aren’t the same things that I would like to see. Admittedly, mine are a little “out there.” Periodically, I like things like “Deadliest Catch”, “Gunsmoke”, “Swamp People” and other similar shows that I only get to watch when I am on the road and keep the TV on all night.

So, as I was getting ready to surf for one of my offbeat programs, the TV suddenly went blank and a notice appeared at the bottom of the screen – “We interrupt this broadcast…” Now you know what comes next, right? A severe weather warning, or maybe something about tornadoes on the area. The temperature had dropped a ton and I had seen lightning in the sky to the south, so I figured the rain was coming after all. But no such luck. Know why the message appeared on the screen?

Because so many programs (4) were being recorded at 9:00 pm that there was no room left for me to watch live TV. Go figure. Now I tease Janet from time to time about all the shows she records. And I do think that she is a professional TV watcher. But my teasing is all in good fun. The reality is that I really don’t care that much about watching shows. In fact, each evening I sit with Janet while she watches recorded programs while I write my evening post. That’s what I am doing right now – just finished one show and started another – kind of watching with one eye and listening with one ear…

Now I also know better than to mess with the TV. I would be dead meat if anything happened to the shows that Janet has on her list of recordings. So when the message came on, there wasn’t a whole lot I could do. You don’t really think that I am going to change the channel or anything, do you? What if one of the programs didn’t record? No way, not worth it… I wouldn’t take that risk.

Of course, the rain didn’t happen, so the more I sat there, the more that I figured I should go out and water the plants. And as much as I didn’t want to do it, I ended up being blessed by the experience. Because I just thought about the day, in silence, and thought about my relationship with God. Just Him and me – a quiet, private, unplanned time together. If only for a few minutes, it seemed like I had the God of the Universe completely to myself…. While I know that He is omnipresent and can be many places at once, it just felt a little special.

The verse tonight is the opening of one of the Psalms where the writer talks about praising God. In Psalm 96:1-3, we read, “Sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth. Sing to the LORD, praise his name; proclaim his salvation day after day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples.” And that’s exactly what I did this evening, even if I had initially wanted to watch “Swamp People”. My encouragement this evening is to let you know that sometimes the best times with God are unscripted and unplanned. That’s when God can really send you a surprise. My prayer is that you will sieze the moment and make sure that you make every second with the Father count. I hope that you plan to spend eternity with Him, but all moments with God are moments to cherish. Especially when they sneak up on you… Have a great day in the Lord, grace and peace…

2 Comments

  • Jill says:

    I have to laugh as I read this post. On one of the few occassions that you actually sit down to watch TV (I have maybe witnessed that a total of 20 times in my 34 years on this earth) you can’t =) If that isn’t a sign that God wanted to converse with you I don’t know what is. Glad for you that you didn’t mess with Mom’s shows…she would not have been happy!

Leave a Reply