"Axing the Runaround"

 

“Axing the Runaround”

 

Over the past three or four decades Karen and I have flown to many destinations. But because of the airlines’ “hub” system I can think of only three occasions in which we’ve had to make more than one plane change: twice when returning from one of the “lesser” Hawaiian Islands and another time when we missed a connection in Chicago and Karen had an extra stop on her way to see her aunt in Las Vegas (honest!). Sometimes we have to battle crowds at the transfer spot but all-in-all the system has worked well for us.

Not long ago Karen ordered something on line and it arrived at our home via this route: Plantation (the Fort Lauderdale area), Opa-locka (near Miami), Ybor City (part of Tampa), Sarasota, Ybor City, Lake Mary (Orlando vicinity), Seminole (north of St. Petersburg), somewhere in Lakeland and finally our house. This zigzag journey took four days and (by my rough calculations) 550 miles. No wonder the USPS recently announced longer delivery times!

And then there’s the matter of phoning customer service for assistance. With most companies a robotic voice gives a menu of options which often doesn’t fit the reason for our call. To try to talk to a live person can become an exercise in futility. And even then who knows how long we may be put on hold? Maybe we get the runaround with the hope that we’ll give up and accept the situation.

These scenarios show that technology isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Thankfully there’s one important area of our lives that has axed the runaround for almost 2000 years: prayer. Since God is unchanging in His perfection (“I the Lord do not change.”—Malachi 3:6; “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”—Hebrews 13:8) His way of approaching Him in prayer is just as it’s always been: an immediate connection. The Apostle Paul puts it this way: “For through him (that is, Christ) we both (that is, Jews and Gentiles alike) have access to the Father by one Spirit.” (Ephesians 2:18). When Jesus died on the cross “the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.” (Matthew 27:51), showing that we could now directly enter the presence of God without the need of a human mediator (“Let us…approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”—Hebrews 4:16). So the runaround, hoop jumping and even “hubs” have been eliminated forever. What better reason could we have to “…pray continually….” (1 Thessalonians 5:17)?

 

Grace and Blessings!

Jim McMillan