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Cal's Pastoral Epistles
The Noisy Room
July 5, 2007
It was so loud that I couldn't even hear myself think. I got back to my
hotel room and the air conditioner was on overdrive. I went over to the
window to make sure that it was firmly attached to the building. I worried
that it might vibrate enough to dislodge itself and fall on some
unsuspecting victim below. For the next half an hour I fiddled with the
controls to no avail. I couldn't even shut the thing off. No matter what
button I pushed or knob I turned, the racket continued.
I decided to ignore it for a while and cranked up the volume on the
television as cover noise. I hate to be a bother. I didn't really want to
complain to the front desk. They would either send a man up and I'd have
to wait for him to finish his repairs or I'd have to move to another room
and get settled all over again. Either way this air conditioner was going to
make my life more complicated for the next few hours.
I finally made my move and went down to the front desk. It was very
busy. I waited in line for a bit and when the host acknowledged me I told
him about my air conditioner. I apologized for being a pain and he said,
"No problem. We'll get you a new room." As he was taking care of me I
heard another guest speaking to the other girl on duty. He was complaining
that he couldn't sleep. I heard him say, "The noise goes right through you."
At first I thought that my air conditioner was so bad that it was keeping
him up too. I wanted to apologize but then I began to congratulate myself
on doing the right thing. By speaking up I was doing a good deed. That's
when the man in line behind me said, "Are you here about the construction
noise too?" For one brief moment I felt totally disoriented as though I had
wandered into the Twilight Zone. "What construction noise?" I asked.
"You haven't heard it," he said. "It is so loud it reverberates through the
whole north side of the hotel."
Just then the hotel host handed me the keys to my new room on the south
side of the hotel. "This room should be much better." I suddenly felt like a
fool. That's why turning off the air conditioner had no effect on the noise.
The racket wasn't coming from the my room. It was coming from
outside. It had nothing to do with me.
As I was packing up to move I chuckled to myself as I thought about how
self centered I had been. The truth is that an awful lot that happens to us
in life has nothing to do with us. We are not being punished when our car
breaks down on the highway. We are not being taught a lesson when the
rain waters seep in and cause our ceiling to fall. We are not getting what
we deserve when we trip and fall and end up with a broken hip. Bad things
do happen to good people.
Rabbi Harold Kushner wrote a book by that title several years ago and he
concluded that this is the price we pay for living in a fallen society. We do
reap what we sow at times. When we engage in destructive behavior, we
will have consequences to deal with. But ultimately it is not all about you
or me. Sometimes we will have to suffer because of a man with a
jackhammer working outside our window. But thanks be to God who is
righteous and just. He gives us grace to overcome the trials.
Grace is what happens when God opens a door and gives you a way out
or a hotel clerk hands you the key to a new room. Grace touches us when
a friend shows up at three in the morning to hold our hand or a neighbor
happens by with a batch of brownies when you are having a bad day.
Sometimes people ask where God is in the midst of crisis. I have come to
understand that God is always there. You just have to be alert enough to
recognize him in the face of the one who brings the blessing.
God bless. See you in church. Cal.
July 5, 2007
It was so loud that I couldn't even hear myself think. I got back to my
hotel room and the air conditioner was on overdrive. I went over to the
window to make sure that it was firmly attached to the building. I worried
that it might vibrate enough to dislodge itself and fall on some
unsuspecting victim below. For the next half an hour I fiddled with the
controls to no avail. I couldn't even shut the thing off. No matter what
button I pushed or knob I turned, the racket continued.
I decided to ignore it for a while and cranked up the volume on the
television as cover noise. I hate to be a bother. I didn't really want to
complain to the front desk. They would either send a man up and I'd have
to wait for him to finish his repairs or I'd have to move to another room
and get settled all over again. Either way this air conditioner was going to
make my life more complicated for the next few hours.
I finally made my move and went down to the front desk. It was very
busy. I waited in line for a bit and when the host acknowledged me I told
him about my air conditioner. I apologized for being a pain and he said,
"No problem. We'll get you a new room." As he was taking care of me I
heard another guest speaking to the other girl on duty. He was complaining
that he couldn't sleep. I heard him say, "The noise goes right through you."
At first I thought that my air conditioner was so bad that it was keeping
him up too. I wanted to apologize but then I began to congratulate myself
on doing the right thing. By speaking up I was doing a good deed. That's
when the man in line behind me said, "Are you here about the construction
noise too?" For one brief moment I felt totally disoriented as though I had
wandered into the Twilight Zone. "What construction noise?" I asked.
"You haven't heard it," he said. "It is so loud it reverberates through the
whole north side of the hotel."
Just then the hotel host handed me the keys to my new room on the south
side of the hotel. "This room should be much better." I suddenly felt like a
fool. That's why turning off the air conditioner had no effect on the noise.
The racket wasn't coming from the my room. It was coming from
outside. It had nothing to do with me.
As I was packing up to move I chuckled to myself as I thought about how
self centered I had been. The truth is that an awful lot that happens to us
in life has nothing to do with us. We are not being punished when our car
breaks down on the highway. We are not being taught a lesson when the
rain waters seep in and cause our ceiling to fall. We are not getting what
we deserve when we trip and fall and end up with a broken hip. Bad things
do happen to good people.
Rabbi Harold Kushner wrote a book by that title several years ago and he
concluded that this is the price we pay for living in a fallen society. We do
reap what we sow at times. When we engage in destructive behavior, we
will have consequences to deal with. But ultimately it is not all about you
or me. Sometimes we will have to suffer because of a man with a
jackhammer working outside our window. But thanks be to God who is
righteous and just. He gives us grace to overcome the trials.
Grace is what happens when God opens a door and gives you a way out
or a hotel clerk hands you the key to a new room. Grace touches us when
a friend shows up at three in the morning to hold our hand or a neighbor
happens by with a batch of brownies when you are having a bad day.
Sometimes people ask where God is in the midst of crisis. I have come to
understand that God is always there. You just have to be alert enough to
recognize him in the face of the one who brings the blessing.
God bless. See you in church. Cal.
Pastor Cal Lord writes these weekly epistles to
help us see God in every day things.
help us see God in every day things.
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