Unexpected

How do you handle things that come up in life that are unexpected? I am not referring to emergency situations where your fight or fight response kicks in. I am asking about things that are just above being an inconvenience. So the coffee pot being broken isn’t quite it either. (Although I must admit, for me, on certain days that could rise to the level I am asking about) So how do you handle them?

There are probably a myriad of responses to that question. Self-pity, whining, complaining, anger, outbursts, defeated resignation…like Eeyore. Or maybe you can take them in stride and just handle them. What might be an inconvenience for you might not be for someone else. How we handle those unexpected stress inducing events could be a matter of faith.

Opportunity: each unexpected event has the potential for us to take it to the Lord in prayer. Yes, a crashed hard-drive, is something we can take to God before / as we are taking it to the pros at Best Buy. That weird rash that developed overnight is something we can take to God before / as we are calling the clinic. When we are faced with an unexpected inconvenience it is a blessed opportunity to turn to our heavenly Father and trust His mercy and grace…everyday.

Bonus: in the midst of doing that there is a bonus. We are “practicing” for those bigger events of the unexpected / expected. when we get the diagnosis and we need surgery. We have “practiced” bringing other minor unexpected things to our Father and we have learned to release them into His care while we are attending to them at Best Buy etc. Another bonus is that we develop a relationship with the Lord in those smaller opportunities that become more like a default setting than something we have to concentrate on doing. Taking it to the Lord becomes, as it were, second nature.

Over the past 20 years I have invested significant dollars in a computer Bible library. I depend on this library significantly every day in ministry. Last night it crashed. I couldn’t access it no matter what I tried. I went through a few of those initial responses but then prayer took center stage. I went to sleep peacefully. No other explanation. I awoke this morning to my regular routine. After a bit I logged onto my computer and clicked on the program. Nothing happened. So I logged into my account and began a customer service session with a rep. I needed to download a patch from their website. So I did. Didn’t work. Panic didn’t set in. I prayed. Logged back in to my account and started another session with customer service. Easy fix. Uninstall everything. No panic just prayed. Reinstall new version in another location. As I type the library is indexing. This will take hours. Guess what I am doing while I wait…yup. Praying.

As I think about how I feel right at this moment with this unexpected inconvenience I have to admit I am surprised by how calm I am…and thankful to God.

How do you handle unexpected situations?