Missed Chances

A massive flood hit a small town near the Mississippi River. One levy in the river had broke, causing the flooding to occur while another levy was predicted to break in the hour.

A man who owned a house along the river stood on the roof of his house as water had engulfed the rest of it. Water levels were slowly rising. A rescue boat came to save the man from his house. The boat approached and the rescuers told the man another levy was about to break and the water would move over his house, sweeping him away to his drowning death. The man told the rescuers he did not need help because he believed in God and that God would save him. Twenty minutes later, the rescuers returned, trying to help the man escape. Once again, the man waved off the rescuers saying that God would save him. Ten minutes afterwards, the rescuers returned again, saying it would be the last time they could return because the levy was about to break. They asked him one last time to get on the rescue boat. He said once again that he believed in God and God would save him from the levy should it break. A few minutes after the rescuers left, the levy broke and the rushing waters engulfed the house, carrying away the man to his drowning death.

When the man reached Heavens, he stood at the gates to enter. He told the men at the gates that he wanted to see God. When he saw God, he asked, "What happened? I thought you were going to save me? Why didn't you save me?" God replied, "I did try to save you. I sent the boat three times."

We laugh, but aren't we the same way? We pray for God to do something, but we aren't paying attention when He tries to work in our lives. We have these pre-conceived notions of how God will work and how He will meet our needs. It's hard for us to remember that God's ways are not our ways.

The really bad part is that we, just like the man in the story, accuse God of not answering our prayers. The fact is that He does answer our prayers but we aren't looking for His answer. God will answer our prayers in His time and His way. It's up to us to be paying attention when the answer comes and to recognize it for what it is!