February 12, 2205 Midweek News
When was the last time you opened yourself to an inconvenience or interruption? YouTube personality Josiah Jackson regularly posts online as “The Piano Doctor,” restoring and tuning pianos. Recently, Josiah scheduled a major inconvenience in his life: an 8-hour layover at Chicago’s O’Hare airport to clean and tune a public piano in terrible shape.
The Kimbal baby grand piano was dirty, unplayable, and closed to the public. After years of drink spills and no care, the piano was a mess. But Josiah purposely gave himself a long layover to fix it up – for free! He shipped himself the tools he needed and got the piano in great shape before his next flight took off. An eight-hour layover with a job to do sounds inconvenient, but it led to something beautiful that everyone can now enjoy.
Last Sunday, we remembered how Simon had fished all night and caught nothing on the Sea of Galilee. Jesus arrives and invites himself on Simon’s boat and asks Simon to go back out on the water. It seems like an inconvenience for Simon, who feels like a failure with no fish. But the inconvenience turns into a miracle. The openness to interruption creates space for a life-changing calling. Simon’s boat overflows with fish. And then it seems his heart overflows, too, as he and others leave everything behind to follow Jesus. Because Simon said ‘yes’ to something small, he opened himself to experience the kingdom of God in a new and powerful way.
Here’s Josiah’s summary of his work at O’Hare on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uSW38mpz8I
Blessings,
Pastor Jared