Time Differences
My oldest son is in The Merchant Marine. I didn’t know what that was until a few years ago. It is not a branch of the US Military but refers to a mix of private companies and government agencies that use a fleet of commercial vessels and civilian mariners to support international trade, passenger transport, and auxiliary military operations.
If that’s not very clear, I understand. They do a lot of things. Ships are involved. Clearer?
He’s currently working in the Hiroshima area of Japan. Every so many days, we will get a photo like the one above. That one is a “castle” – that was all the caption I got. Below was “bus ride.” As you can tell, I’m becoming quite the “expert” in Japanese culture.
Every so often, we get to FaceTime. With the time difference being 13 hours apart (during DST), we have a very short window to communicate. I’ve come to realize that I take time for granted. I have much more time to communicate with my other children and my parents who all live in the same time zone that I do. But do we talk more frequently? No. Not much more.
When my son in Japan calls, I drop everything. You would think he was a movie star the way I act. But when there is this much distance between you and you know you can’t do it later, you change how you act.
It got me thinking…I wonder if God feels that way about our prayer life? Does God hear our prayers coming in and think, “Shannon is praying!!!!!!! Who knows when she’ll stop to do this again????” I know that’s not how God works. God knows the things on our hearts that are too heavy for words but the idea makes me smile. The fact that God, who is greater than everything, pauses to hear our prayers makes me feel like a movie star. It makes the world seem a little less overwhelming. It makes me feel seen.
I hope that you spend some time with God today. I hope that you pause and realize that you are worthy to be seen…that you matter. And when you do…I hope you hear or feel the excitement that God has, knowing that you took the time.
May your loved ones always be close. If not physically close, at least close at heart. And may we always treat our time as the gift that it is.
Until Everyone Hears,
Dr. K
Beautiful message, thank you for sharing as you always do. Our family has military as well as scattered folks everywhere. Love how you declared the importance of communication be it here, there or across the world. As a note of interest, we had a dear family friend, retired Merchant Marine Captain! Oh my goodness, the importance of these ships.. best to your son, prayers for all of you!
Love you,
Sharon Willis