Distractions

It was the Saturday night before Palm Sunday. We went to bed around 11 p.m and I was thinking, "I get to sleep in a bit tomorrow." Our church suspended our Sunday School hour due to Spring Break so I gained an hour of sleep. At least this was my hope. Around 7:30 I heard this incredibly loud sound - like a jack hammer on something metal. I had heard this sound before and  rushed outside to see if the same scenario was true. A woodpecker was diligently trying to bore his way into my chimney flue to find his breakfast. Yes, its round but that's about all the resemblance to a tree that it has. Perhaps it was God's way of graciously distracting me from the stress of the week or to get my behind out of bed to be with Him in prayer rather than get that extra hour of sleep. 

I had the unfortunate obligation this week to sit in on a very long meeting speaking to the moral failure of a brother in ministry. At the height of its intensity a frog let out a huge sound from the corner of the room. There was an open window and he must have been eavesdropping. It was so loud that it stopped the meeting. One minute the room was heavy with pain; the next we were trying not to laugh out loud. Perhaps it was God's way of graciously

distracting us and reminding us that the world around us is still moving forward. Perhaps we were making things more difficult than they needed to be. Forgive. Restore. Rethink. Restart. Resume. 

Holy Week can be pretty intense for me. There is a lot to do. The self-imposed pressure to be our best as a church - to present the Christ show well - is overwhelming at times. I need to be reminded that the gospel is simple and doesn't need flash or spectacular performances. Sometimes it just needs to be a woodpecker or a frog - a distraction that diverts our attention to that which is simple but so profound, if only for a season.