Wrong Place, Right Time
by Alison Scarborough
My doctor recently requested for me to be seen by a hospital consultant in our local out-patients department. As a result of certain circumstances it was necessary for me to phone the appointments co-ordination centre myself, and I spoke to a lovely lady who gave me the date, time and place of the appointment I was to attend.
Knowing the hospital well, I duly went for the appointment and was told in which waiting area to sit. But after a while I began to have a few concerns. Everyone else in the waiting area was heavily pregnant.
As this was not my situation I began to look for someone to help, and found a kindly nurse, who was eventually able to unravel what seemed to be quite a confusion. I was in the wrong hospital! I’d been given the wrong information and had just spent nearly an hour and a half of my life in the wrong place and still hadn’t seen the doctor.
I will be honest and say I wasn’t pleased. But as I told Jesus all about it in the car as I drove home I felt it was as if He said to me, “Wrong place, right time, just like Simon Peter.”
I’d been on time for my appointment and while waiting had been able to chat with two ladies about Jesus. The confusion had also shown me some things of my own heart that I needed to bring to Jesus.
Simon Peter denied Jesus and was struggling with the pain and confusion of that. When he announced he was going fishing I wonder if, in all his confusion, he’d forgotten what Jesus had said to him about being a fisher of men.
He went out fishing, the other disciples following his lead, and they caught nothing. It was the wrong place, but the right time, for, when the sun came up, Jesus was standing on the beach, and not long after that Simon Peter was restored and commissioned.
Wherever we are, even if it seems like it’s the wrong place, the Lord is still able to use us, if our hearts are open to Him. Simon Peter was still a leader, even in his brokenness. I still spoke of Jesus in the waiting room.
Jesus will also use the wrong place to show us the things of our hearts that we need to talk to Him about. For Simon Peter it was his betrayal. For me it was attitudes and reactions. In Jesus there’s no time like the right time and the right time is always now.
Prayer: Dear Lord Jesus, thank You that in You there can be no wrong place. Thank You that my life is hidden with You, my Saviour. Thank You that You will always meet me just wherever I am. Oh Lord, I long to serve You with the gifts and talents You’ve given me. Help me to see when You’ve helped me to serve You, so I give You the glory. And Lord, thank You that You’re always ready to hear the things of my heart that trouble me. Thank You for your forgiveness, cleansing and commissioning. Amen.
Alison Scarborough has been part of the Ellel Ministries Team since 1997 having completed the `Nine Week School` in 1996. She has worked at Glyndley Manor, near Eastbourne, since joining team and is currently Deputy Director and one of the teachers there. She has travelled to share in teaching at some of Ellel`s other European Centres and enjoyed significant time with the Ellel Ireland team. Before joining Ellel Alison was a nurse and midwife who was especially interested in neuro-intensive care and infectious diseases.
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