5 Minutes
Living in other countries or cultures, has its challenges. Even after several years, I am still challenged almost every day. There are so many, but now I want to share with you my challenge called, 5 minutes.
We all work with or in time, and in some professional cases time is most relevant or sometimes crucial. And if you have my personality, it is very crucial. So one of the things I am challenged with here are appointment times. Whether it is a work meeting, social meeting, entertainment, religious or personal, the challenge will be there. Now let me get to my point more practical……
Let’s say our group has to get ready for a church meeting in another area. The meeting will start at 10:00am in the morning and we need 30 minutes to get there. The plan was that everyone gets up and doing things at 7:00am. Someone will wake you up 6:05am in the morning, people will be moving around, cooking, get dressed, and doing things that you do not understand. Everything would be finished by about 7:00am. So then you have to wait from 7:00am to 9:00am, or even 9:45am, to catch the lift to go to the meeting. So just 5min after 6:00am, they would rather see as 7:00am, because 6:00am is finished already.
Now what is interesting is that it also works the opposite way. Let’s say our group has to start with a teaching at 8:00pm. Around 7:30pm most people might be near or around the area that we will meet, but by 7:55pm it is still the same. I would like to get ready to start, but because it is 5min before 8:00pm, they will tell me it is now only after 7:00pm.
So what do we have here: 5min before 8:00 can be 7:00…………….and 5min after 6:00 and be 7:00. Dear friends, remember to pray for the missionaries out there. They have to endure much more than you can think of. God bless you.