Page 10 - January15-Catalyst

THE ELEMENT
OF SURPRISE
By Gladys Grimaud | Continued from pg 9
“He probably was armed,” Joe answered, “because he could see me through the Ve- netian Blinds but in spite of that, he boldly and brazenly continued trying to break into our home. But I beat him, Gladys! I beat him with the element of surprise! Haven’t you ever heard about the Confederate rebel yell? It works! That guy must have thought that I looked like a pushover, but I surprised him! Yep, he’s recuperating somewhere. It’ll be a while before he tries that again.”
I sat down on the sofa and stared at Joe in disbelief thinking, “What kind of man am I married to?” In my heart of hearts, I already knew. Joe was being Joe. The same Joe that early in our marriage had chased a peeping tom from our bedroom window. He chased that man for two blocks and then it dawned upon him. “Here I am running around the neighborhood barefooted and in my un- derwear and I am not even coming close to catching a peeping tom. How will I explain this if a policeman finds a need to arrest me?” Joe had been running across rocks and pebbles and limped home on very sore feet that stayed sore for about two weeks. Fortu- nately, he did not have to explain the situa- tion to a policeman and the neighborhood peeping tom never returned.
My Joe is full of surprises even after all these years. He still makes our marriage exciting and keeps me on the edge of my seat. Like the Christmas that he gave me a bathrobe. I tried not to show my disappointment when I opened the package and found a rather dull bathrobe, and, anyway, I already had one. It wasn’t until I put my hands in the pockets that the big gift showed up. It wasn’t ice cream coupons but keys to a brand new beautiful, sporty, white El Dorado!
We have had our ups and downs fluctuating
10 CityLight.org
from time to time between feast and famine just as everyone else encounters, but Joe has been able to recognize the opportunities to upgrade our lifestyle by taking advantage of the situations in front of him. “Think and Grow Rich,” a book written by Napoleon Hill, inspired Joe as a young man with this phrase: “Every person’s ship comes in at least seven times in life, but most people don’t recognize it and get on.” God is able to help us recognize when our ship has come in because He is the one who has caused it to appear, and if we respond to His initia- tive, He will give us the courage to get on board. Even those who find themselves in the worst of circumstances can still choose not to be a victim of circumstance but to respond to God in the midst of those cir- cumstances. The apostle John refers to Jesus as “the true Light, which gives light to every man coming into the world.” No man can give the excuse that he was disadvantaged and could not succeed in life. Ecclesiastes 9:11 states it this way: “I have seen some- thing else under the sun: The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the bril- liant or favor to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all.” In other words, God is for us – not against us. He is initiat- ing action toward us that will put us on the path to succeed.
As we survey the world today, it seems that many are being caught up in the element of surprise. One goes into a chocolate shop and encounters a terrorist. Children go to school and never return home to parents because horror and death have fallen upon them. Jesus warned us of such a day when the element of surprise would overtake us. He said that the genera ion right before His return would be like Noah’s genera- tion when men and women were focused on having a big party – drinking and marrying without respect or regard for God. He said that the evil servant is the one who is not being watchful thinking that his master is
January 2015