Books authored by Dr. James Dyet. Purchase on JamesDyet.com

Friday, November 6, 2009

Répondez s'il vous plait!

My sanctification tends to sag a little when people fail to return my calls or respond to my written inquiries. For example, more than a week ago I contacted my life insurance agent at the company’s Denver office. He told me he would drop a form in the mail the next day. Because I live only one hour south of Denver, I expected to receive the form within a day of the mailing. I am still waiting for it.

I have tried to several times to contact my agent about this form, but all I get is a voice recording directing me to the agent, another agent, or the operator. Following the directions simply leads to more music. Perhaps the insurance company’s Denver office has shut down, the entire staff is homebound with swine flu, or everyone is soaring in a famous blimp over a football stadium.

Editors, too, may fail to respond to queries. Writers often ask how long they should wait for an answer before submitting a manuscript elsewhere. Sometimes a year passes, and a writer is still waiting to hear from an editor. It is a frustrating experience.

If someone is too busy to respond to a client or writer, he or she is just too busy.

Fortunately God delights to hear and answer our prayers. He is never disinterested or preoccupied.  “Call to Me, and I will answer you,” He promises (Jeremiah 33:3).

By the way, God also offers outstanding life insurance. It is free and eternal (Romans 6:23b)

Sunday, November 1, 2009

An Extra Hour

An extra hour!

We moved our clocks back one hour last night to convert to Standard time. We kept hearing that we would have an extra hour for sleep, but it didn’t work out that way. Our dogs were oblivious to the time change. They woke us up at the usual time.

If you were granted an extra hour of life on earth, how would you spend it? Would you sleep? Contact loved ones? Go shopping?  Purchase or bake a pie that your diet had restricted and eat a slice of that pie every ten minutes? Pray? Read the Bible? Witness?

Of course we do not know when our life will end. We may not have another year, month, day, hour, or even a minute. Ultimately, what counts is not how much time we put into life’s journey but what we put into the time that remains. Let’s use each moment wisely.