Traction from Distraction

Life, especially in ministry, is filled with so called distractions.  The thing that will make a difference is how these distractions are viewed.  Let me tell you a little bit as to how I am wired (and I bet I am not alone).  I usually start each day with a plan, sometimes written sometimes just stored away mentally.  I tend to have a list of things that I would like to accomplish that day.  Unfortunately, I’m terrible at this, usually expecting to accomplish in one day what will take me two or three days to actually do.  I get to the office and I set about my day, doing things as I desire to do them and then it happens, a distraction.  My stress level goes up, my frustration level goes up, I begin making mental adjustments to my plan for the day, and I try to talk myself into relaxing.  Yeah, I have a strong feeling that I am not alone.

Here is a truth that I have come to realize:  Distraction can become traction for the very things we ought to be doing, especially in ministry.  Consider the story of the Good Samaritan as recorded in Luke 10:29-37.  We are told, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among robbers”.  This was a man who was now in need.  If you were traveling along the road that day, would you have seen him as part of your mission or as a distraction?  I would love to say I would have seen this as an opportunity to show the love of God.  However, there are two men in the story, one a priest and the other a Levite, that saw him as a distraction.  So much so that we are told they passed by on the others side of the road (vs. 31-32).  I wonder how many times in my ministry that I figuratively pass by on the other side of the road because I view something or someone as a distraction?

There is another man in the story though, a Samaritan.  We are not told where he was going or what he was doing.  Scripture merely states, “as he journeyed”.  That phrase strikes me as interesting.  I wonder if it is shedding a little light on the Samaritan’s outlook on life?  Maybe he viewed life as more of a journey, as we should, instead of a list to be accomplish.  Well, the Samaritan stops to help, takes care of the man’s wounds, readjust his schedule enabling him stay the night and look after the man, and then spends his own money to look after the man’s long term care.  The Samaritan figured out how to allow a distraction to provide traction.  This distraction allowed him to do the very thing he was supposed to do (show the love of God) as opposed to keeping him from it.

I want to learn from this man.  I no longer want to view the unplanned stop at the grocery store, the unexpected guest who just drops in for no reason, the unplanned trip to town, or even the power failure at the church as a distraction.  I want to begin to recognize that life is a “journey” and not a “to do list”.  I want to recognize each distraction as a possible opportunity to do the very things God has called me to do.  Let us relax, let us gain traction from distraction, and as Jesus said to those who listened when he told the story of the Good Samaritan, let us “Go and do likewise.”