Interruptions Appreciated

There is a sign on my office door “Interruptions Appreciated”. This statement and its meaning have led to the name of this blog, “Open Door”.

Driving down the road, listening to your favorite song or talk show and the dreaded tones go off. Oh great, a test of the emergency broadcast system, and you think, now I’ll never hear the end of my song or hear the climax of the point the talk show host was leading to. Interruptions, life is full of them some good, some bad. My wife has a way of calling me at the most inopportune times. Picture this, standing on a scaffold, holding a piece of drywall against the ceiling with my head trying to keep it in place while screwing it in and the phone goes off, it’s your wife calling. Interruptions, especially at inconvenient times can be frustrating to say the least but, I want to share with you what God has revealed to me about interruptions and why I now “appreciate” these interruptions.

1 Peter 3:15

But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:

I spend a lot of time in my office writing lessons, studying, making phone calls, etc. One day, two fellow laborers came into my office to chat, to vent, to ask advice. After a few moments one of them says, we’re sorry to interrupt you Mr. Bradley; we know you have a lot to do. So, I responded that it was ok, that interruptions were appreciated. I didn’t think much about it until the following week when I was presented with a gift, a sign for my office door; “Pastor Brad, Jeremiah 3:15, Interruptions Appreciated”. I never really thought about coining a term but it has the thought on what type of servant I want to be, the kind of servant we all say we want to be but rarely live up to.

Have you ever had this thought after meeting or speaking with someone who is lost or hurting in some way? “I just blew an opportunity to witness to this person”. Or “I could have been a comfort to that person” and you failed to because you had other things to do or was busy with more important things and couldn’t be bothered at the time or was afraid to get personal? Then you realize you blew it. I’ll have to admit, that was me. I think we’ve all had that feeling. I have blown countless opportunities to be the person that God has called me to be. I wanted to be different on purpose. “Interruptions Appreciated” may be just a tad odd and a tad selfish. Here’s what I mean by that. Jesus tells us to store treasures up in heaven not here on earth, we have crowns we are awarded for what we do here, Paul tells us we will receive the “reward of the inheritance” (Col. Ch. 3) and Jesus says we won’t lose our reward by giving a cup of cold water in Matthew Ch. 10. Treasures, crowns, awards, rewards So, in serving, there is reward there is personal gain. Who doesn’t like being told, you’ve done a great job? Who doesn’t long to hear the words of Jesus taken from the parable of the talents “well done good and faithful servant? Now then comes the greatest incentive of all; Revelation chapter 4 a picture of what will take place when we meet our Jesus. On that day, we will fall down before Him and cast our crowns before His throne and defer all credit for what we do here, upon Him, crying out; You are worthy oh Lord to receive glory and honor and power. It was only because of you oh God that we could do anything. Everything we have done was in your name and by your power because you created all things and for your pleasure they are and were created.

So, if you’re hurting, if you’re angry, if you’re searching for answers and especially if you need Jesus, my door is always open because Jesus is always here with me waiting for you. Let me tell you what he can do for you. Interruptions Appreciated.