I’ve learned to expect a rough time leading up to a Kairos weekend event, especially one where I have to give a talk to the men in white. Last week was no exception.
The week started out just fine. Friday was a whole nuther animal. Actually Tuesday and Wednesday night I slept terribly. It didn’t help that I was in the back of a semi on a hard mattress.
Friday was lined up to be a good day time wise…if I got up early enough to start the day before 8:00. It would have if my phone/alarm battery hadn’t died during the night.
The good news I got an extra two hours of sleep to help make up for the two previous nights of lackluster unconsciousness.
Other than sleep the main complication was the fact that I was in the Bermuda Triangle of no phone range in Texas. It extends from around Waco to approximately San Antonio all the way to maybe El Paso. Yeah, I was in west-south-central Texas.
Of course that’s when all kinds of people decided to conduct some sort of business with me.
The app client is upset that the development team didn’t get their app perfect before it went live.
The app team is begging for more time to work out the bugs that always pop up when an app goes live.
My illustrious illustrator needs some help because of the government shutdown.
And the dispatcher just wants his mattresses delivered on time.
All the while I’m doing my level best to get back in time to get some good sleep in my own bed before said Kairos event that includes a talk by yours truly.
Oh, and the Apainter Paul would like me to stop driving so I can help him with a couple of large jobs he just won the bid on.
I explained to him that for a little guy there’s only so much of me to go around. I spread thin enough on a good day. YIKES!
Anyway, I got to my first delivery about 45 minutes later than I hoped to…not good but not too bad.
The first couple of hours of driving went fairly smoothly, but then I hit Midland for two stops before heading back home.
It was like everyone’s stupid pill kicked in at the same time. One frustration after another on the road. The unhappy app client calling and telling me I need a different development team. The app team leader attempting to clam me down so he can work things out…I guess he was the only one with his head on straight.
By the time I got home, checked the mail and showered I rolled into bed at eleven o’clock with my charged alarm set for 3:45am.
So why did I wake up shortly before 1:30 with no chance of falling back to sleep?
The good news is I had plenty of time to send out an SOS prayer request to my adult fellowship before I left home and I was riding down with someone else behind the wheel.
I took my pillow and got as much sleep as I could in the back seat. I think that added up to another hour.
I now know why there’s been so much sleep deprivation in my training leading up to this point of my life.
I gave my talk just before lunch. That meant there was no caffeine hit prior to my standing up in front of a bunch of convicted felons to help them in their Christian walk.
Some days a fella just can’t catch a break.
I felt comfortable enough with my talk that I didn’t prepare any notes to cheat off of. That meant I forgot much of what I wanted to say at the beginning of my presentation. It was mostly filler, apparently.
The talk focused on reaching out to people to show them the love of Christ. My main emphasis surrounded the time I encountered a homeless man outside of Walmart after two other extremely tough days of driving.
That part of the talk I remembered like it was just over a year ago…because it was.
It never fails that when I mention to these men that I’m a truck driver that someone in the group wants to be a truck driver when he gets out so he has all sorts of questions for me.
This happened just after it was announced that those of us volunteers who wanted to eat in the staff mess hall can head over there now.
Jesus showed me that there are times that one-on-one meetings are more important than eating…think the Samaritan woman at the well.
After that conversation ended another inmate walked up to me and said my talk really opened his eyes about some things.
I knew God was with me during my talk before those proofs showed up.
Normally when I sing as I’m driving I yawn if I haven’t had enough sleep. I sang my song I Met Jesus Today to close my talk. There wasn’t a hint of a yawn during the entire song.
Yeah, God’s strength showed up big time during my weakness…and He gets all the glory for it.
I decided this lunch time was meant for me to have a time of prayer and fasting for the weekend. So I did.
I met most of the prayer team in my adult fellowship as they came up to me Sunday morning to asked how the talk/weekend went. I have the bestest adult fellowship on the planet.
The next big Kairos weekend is in May. I hope I can get some decent sleep before then.
I’ll see you later. Wade
