Chad's spot for various thoughts, musings, poetry, ideas and whatnot

Thursday, November 25, 2004

Timing

In automobiles, just as in comedy, everything is timing. While the idea of internal combustion is a rather straightforward one (as long as one doesn't try to describe the thermodynamic heat engine cycle which, in a fortuitous bit of engineering wordplay, is called the Otto cycle), the devil is, as they say, in the details. Most importantly, everything has to happen in just the right order at just the right time. In comedy, the pause between the set-up and the delivery has to be just right or the joke is flat or forced and doesn't work. In cars this timing is insured by a nifty little thing called the timing belt (if only some actors had one of these handy devices).

Why the interesting but seemingly irrelevant discourse on the relation between comedy, cars and timing? Well, our car seems to have lost its timing; or at least its timing belt. Fortunately, its timing in doing so couldn't have been better. It waited until after we had gotten to Huntsville here instead of failing somewhere along the way, say on one of the backroads detours we ended up taking to get here becasue the 15" of rain in these parts washed out or closed section of two US highways. On this day I'm thankful for that. Deeply, truly thankful.

I wonder if God is trying to tell us as a nation to stay home and slow down. Travel seems to have been difficult across much of the nation. Snow, rain, flooding and, in Colorado, rockslides that are going to close I-70 for over a week forcing detours of over 200 miles; which translates into about 4 hours given the nature of the mountain roads if conditions are reasonable.

If you're with family and friends on this weekend; give thanks. There are a lot of people who are stuck, unable to get home. They're held up by closed airports, bad roads, floods for sure. But some are not with their families due to war, estrangement or death. Take time this day to pray for them. Not a little prayer but really reach out from your heart. Remember, the Lord told His disciples, "Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted." In that same prayer, give thanks for what you may have, even if those things seem simple and not worth much. Maybe we should be most thankful for the things in our lives that are the most simple; for often they are the most beautiful.

In Him.

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