A Walk Later in the Day

About midnight Paul and Silas

were praying and singing hymns

of praise to God

— Acts 16:25

A couple of days ago we thought together here about early morning devotional times.

But what if you’re not an early morning person?

While President of Asbury Theological Seminary, Dr. Frank Bateman Stanger  taught a class that was one of my favorites there. During a Q & A time in class, a seminarian “serving a student charge” (i.e., pastoring a church while going to school) asked what time Dr. Stanger would arrive at the office when he was in a church. I guessed the student pastor’s schedule of office hours was being criticized, a guess confirmed after class.

The classroom was silent.

We heard the huffling of presidential feet.

“Well,” Dr. Stanger began, then coughed.

Cleared his throat. Fiddled with something on the lectern.

Slowly looking up and straight at the student, he quietly said, “It always seemed to me that what’s important isn’t when you get there, but what you do when you’re there.”

Glance back up to the top of my blog today and apply as needed.