What's the TIME?

So the Cubs just won the World Series after a 108 year drought. AND they did it in style – game 7, extra innings, a rain delay – it doesn’t get much better than that! Well unless you’re an Indians fan. I’m not a particularly huge sports guy and honestly didn’t have much invested in which team won but wow! It’s been said that hitting a major league fastball is the most difficult feat in all of sports. Let me break it down for you with a few quick, REALLY QUICK figures –

• 400 milliseconds – roughly the time is takes for a major league fastball to travel from the pitcher’s hand to home plate. Now we start subtracting.
• 100 milliseconds – the time it takes for your brain to process the image of the ball being hurled precariously close to your body.
• 25 milliseconds – the time it takes for your brain to send a signal to your muscles to swing the bat.
• 150 milliseconds – the time it takes to physically swing the bat.
• 125 milliseconds – the amount of time left to gauge the trajectory of the pitch and decided whether or not to swing.

Just to put that in context it takes 3 times longer to blink (300-400 milliseconds). The actual window in which a pitch can successfully be hit is only 7 milliseconds! Too soon and it goes foul, too late and WHIFF! Swing and a miss. It all comes down to timing.

In 1 Chronicles we have a list of the people who began to gather around David before he became king. Among those named were some -

“from Issachar, men who understood the times and knew what Israel should do—200 chiefs, with all their relatives under their command;” - 1 Chronicles 12:32 NIV

These guys understood the importance of timing. See you can do the right thing, the right way, in the right place with the right people and still fail. If you miss the timing. When it comes to timing I see three options –

1. Too early.
2. Too late.
3. Just right.

It is essential to get the timing right if we are to fulfill the God dreams He has placed in our hearts. We don’t want to get our ahead of Him, or lag behind. We want to walk ‘with’ Him, like Adam did in the garden. I think there are a couple of things to consider when it comes to God’s timing and His plans for our lives.

The first is IMPATIENCE. I’ve seen so many people, myself included, miss God because we were not willing to wait. When we are patient we don’t end up settling for less than God’s best. I usually find when I full surrender the timing to God THEN things begin to move forward. See with God the journey is just as important as the destination. He is building our faith every step of the way.

The second would be FEAR. Faith requires action and often a certain amount of risk. Just like Abram set out into the unknown we must be willing to step out in obedience and trust that God will show up. If you never step up to the plate and take a swing I promise you will never connect with the ball.

So what is God calling you to? And when? And what you should doing right now? May God help us to be more like those sons of Issachar.