The other day, my mind landed in the past and it made me think of all the key moments in our national story that likely have changed the fabric of our culture or even our identity as a nation– and there are many.
Because I am a student of history, I long for a front row seat at Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, that brief 3-minute window that lacks all visual record save one fleeting photograph; a moment that might never have taken place without the North, so desperate for a victory, and emancipation, securing success on those battlefields at Gettysburg. And yes, one specific battle on the second day of fighting, becomes yet another moment in time achieved only through the efforts of an obscure English professor whose textbook flanking maneuver saved the day and likely the Union itself. Unfortunately, I missed that one too, and missed meeting its hero– one Joshua Lawrence Chamberlin. The war is replete with those critical moments in time.
And then, there are the moments when our presidents and national leaders were gunned down by assassins. I’m drawn to the images of Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, and Ronald Reagan– all of them died at the hands of their assailants, save one. But what is it that changed in that moment in time? What died with Lincoln, what ended with Kennedy, what did we bury with Martin Luther King and what might we have lost had Reagan succumbed to his attacker?
The great moments in time affect us, they alter our experiences and create new realities we never imagined. If they can impact our national conscious, they must also temper our individual lives as well. So I wondered, what do the Scriptures offer in this area?
Now, think with me about the many who appear in its pages whose own moments prove nothing short of transformational. I’m thinking of Moses, who but for God might have died in the desert, or died at the hands of Pharaoh. That one moment in time, when rather than turning away from that “great sight”, he turned toward it, embraced the eternal God behind the transient flame and brought his people out of bondage. One great moment in time.
And then there was Joseph, who but for the Spirit’s guidance might have divorced Mary and disappeared into the pages of ambiguity, but instead, in faithfulness saw through his commitment, witnessed the birth of the God-man and set him on his course in life.
And finally, there was a man, by his own account, born out of time, yet in one moment, surrendered his agenda and his pride, confessed his need, and embraced the difficult road toward suffering. That one decision to stop “kicking against the goads” proved life changing as Paul ceased to walk by sight and now went forward by faith. None of these moments or dozens like them unfolded in the absence of God’s sovereignty or outside the providential hand of God’s revealed truth. They were not surprises to God, a jolt to his established and well-ordered plan. To think so suggests that we have not read history or worse assume that the earth turns to its own chaotic pace in the absence of its designer who has long ago established the order and action of creation. No, these moments in time are theological, they speak to us about God’s interest in who we are and what we will become.
All of which led me back to the genesis of this piece. The other day I was sharing with a friend an epiphany I experienced years ago in my short but uneventful military career. I had only been stationed at Fort Riley, Kansas for a short time, was still adapting to military life and I was lonely. Friends did not come easily to me, I hadn’t been part of a large social group in high school and Christian friends were even more scarce in the military. So there I was, alone, homesick, and unfamiliar with military life– all qualities that make young men and women susceptible to demonic temptations of all kinds. But as it turned out, I happened to make friends with a gal who was also in the military and worked at one of the battalion offices in my unit. She was kind, attractive, and possessed a strong sense of humor. I found myself attracted to her. I would find reasons to visit her, have lunch together and so it was that we began to spend more time together. And then one day, she said,
You know, before this goes much further you should know that I have kids, and they are a large part of my life that must become part of your life as well.
I will never forget that moment; I was all of nineteen, a long way from home, inexperienced with dating and mature women, and by the way, I had never thought of myself as a father, certainly not an instant father. I remember thinking, wow, is this the future you want for yourself?
Now before I continue, hear me clearly. I do not remember the circumstances that brought her to that particular place in my life, nor am I condemning what may have come before that brought her to that stage in her life, nor am I claiming that somehow I was too good for her. She was kind, hard working, funny, and a loving single mom who interested me. And yet, I have thought often about just how different my life might have been had I pursued a relationship with her. And it reminds me of the power contained in a moment. In that one moment I chose a path that would not include her, would not include the experiences of her ready-made family, her life history, or the relationships that make up her background.
Now, here’s the thing, what makes this more than merely a “lucky break” for me was the necessary spiritual component of this relationship– there wasn’t one, not because I wantonly disregarded it, but more because I had not begun to consider her as anything more than a friend and yet she was beginning to look at our relationship more deeply, more than I was certainly aware of, and more importantly, she wanted to know where my intentions lie if the relationship were to move forward. God was working through her to create in me a picture of what He wanted for me and what might prove to be the best for me and his will for my life.
And so, I stepped back, took a deep breath, ended the friendship and became more involved in the local church in town– which by the way brought Debbie into my life. In fact, Rita slipped quietly away from my memory, with but thankfulness to God for the friendship and the assurance that God in that moment showed up to illuminate a better path for me. If but for that one moment, my world might have turned out differently, and I would have been less than God wanted for me.
And so it was with Jesus, who in that one moment in time, alone in a garden, dismissed by the casual commitments of followers long departed; when confronted by the demonic temptation to set aside his course toward the cross for an easier one, said
no, “Not my will, Father, but yours.” That one moment on the world clock changed everything– your life and my life and a host of others breathing the eternal air of heaven. Glorious.
In fact, it was Robert Frost who noted in the Poem, The Road Not Taken,
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, and sorry I could not travel both, And be one traveler, long I stood, And looked down as far as I could to where it bent in the undergrowth… I shall be telling this with a sigh somewhere ages and ages hence: two roads diverged in a wood, and I– I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.
All in but a brief moment of time.
Press on!
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