LAST BUT FIRST

LAST BUT FIRST
From the sermon “In His Own Way and Time”
Exodus 2:1-15

In planning, the last part may be the most important. We were living in Maui, Hawaii, and some friends from Singapore were planning to come and spend Christmas with us. Three families, together with two of our daughter’s friends—15 persons in all—were making their way to the US.

They first landed in Los Angeles, and visited Disneyland and Universal Studios. It was a Friday afternoon when we received a call from them. They were soon boarding a plane bound for Honolulu. They asked about the plane tickets from Honolulu to Maui, located on another island.

“You mean, you have not bought the tickets?” I asked incredulously.

“You told us that it’s only a half-hour flight, and there are domestic flights like taxis going back and forth,” my friend replied.

But this was the Christmas weekend! All the flights would be booked solid—and indeed, they were as we called one domestic airlines after another: Aloha, Hawaiian, Mahalo.

Not a single seat was available, and we were looking for places for 15 people! We were in a jam. We had arranged for our friends to go on a snorkeling trip the next morning at 6.30 am—how were they going to get to us?

My wife and I sat back, stunned, trying to think of a solution. For a moment, we felt like Joseph and Mary in Bethlehem—no room in the inn, except in this case, it was no seat on the plane.

The thought that kept coming to us again and again was: How could we have forgotten to make provision for this last leg of a 2,000-mile journey? In our excitement, we had forgotten to plan the last 100 miles, the most important part of their journey. They were coming so close, yet were so far away.

Planning can be a tedious and frustrating exercise. We can miss out on something vital, or be blindsided by one of the many variables. The best-laid plans can fail. Despite that, planning is important to life. You may have heard it said: If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.

In our dilemma, I went back to a few basic questions. I first asked the Lord, “Is it your will to bring our friends to us?” I have no doubt it was. Our friends had already met with many obstacles over the months, and at one point almost aborted the visit. They were as convinced as we were that the Lord wanted them to come.

Secondly, I asked the Lord, “Are we moving too fast? Must they come tonight? Maybe your timing is for them to come tomorrow? We can call off the snorkeling trip, and go by your schedule. In any case, it is our mistake.” There was such peace in recognising that God might have different plans.

Nevertheless, we decided to do everything in our powers to get our friends to us. We called United Airlines, and they suggested American Airlines. We called American Airlines and to our amazement, they asked, “How many people?” I held my breath and said, “Fifteen.” Praise the Lord, they had the seats available.

We learned later that one of their planes had crash landed somewhere, resulting in cancellations by passengers. Our friends arrived that day, and we went snorkeling at dawn. What a lesson we learned! The last leg of a journey, the last part in our plans—that should be first in importance.

To finish well, the last part must get the first attention.