Ain't Nobody Got Time for That!

You’ve probably seen the YouTube video commonly known as “Ain’t Nobody Got Time for That” and probably some of the many spin-off videos that have followed the original.  In it, a woman whose apartment complex caught fire apparently got bronchitis as a result.  Also, apparently, she could not squeeze the bronchitis into her busy schedule.

Since the video went viral, “ain’t nobody got time for that” has become a popular part of our lexicon:

• It can be used to humorously decline the invitation to do a chore around the house:  Take out the trash?  Ain’t nobody got time for that!

• It can be used to point out the busy little extra things to do in our lives that we would rather not take the time to do:  Change the oil in the car?  Ain’t nobody got time for that!

• It can be used to avoid things we don’t want to do, even if we had all the time in the world:  Root canal?  Ain’t nobody got time for that!

• For my friend Mike, it’s a statement of his strong will to fight for the more important things in his life: Cancer?  Ain’t nobody got time for that!

Ain’t nobody got time for the inconveniences in our lives.  We have our regular schedules, and we don’t like for our routines to be interrupted.  So that begs the question:

What DO you make time for?

 

Let me invite you into part of my schedule over the last few months:

• Getting up a little earlier to drive my son to school (We had homeschooled him until this year.):  Got time for that.

• Getting up a little earlier to drive my son to school on Fridays (my day to sleep in):  Ain’t nobody got time for that!

• His getting his driver’s license and a truck (with lots of my time to find a good one) to drive himself to school:  Make time for that!

• A regular night’s sleep in my bed with my wife:  Got time for that.

• Waking up in the middle of the night to take her to the emergency room for kidney stones:  Ain’t nobody got time for that!

• Setting aside part of our family budget so that we can have regular dates:  Make time for that!

Next Friday, a team of nine of us from Colonial Hills Church will go to Haiti to serve the Lord at the House of Abraham in Jacmel.  We will set aside our first world problems for a week and allow God to use us as He desires in a context foreign to us on so many levels.  Nothing about a mission trip is convenient.  Everyone will miss a week of work or school.  Three parents will be away from very young children.  One son will be away from a very sick dad.  It has and will cost a lot of money, a lot a time in preparation and shopping for items that we will need, and a lot of effort in fundraising.

But these are the things that Christ-followers make time for.  You see, we will not effect as much change in Haiti as Haiti will effect in us.  Some of us who are going are going because we have already experienced the life change that comes through missions, and we have made it a part of our lives and, consequently, our budgets; it’s part of the norm in our lives now.  Others are going on their first trip.  I can already tell they’re going to be good at this, but I am very much looking forward to how God enters into this week of their lives to change it forever.

Going, serving, and telling others about Jesus in a context different from our own?  We make time for that!

Pray for us as we prepare this week to fly out next Friday at 6:05 A.M. 

6:05 A.M.?  Ain’t nobody got time for that!

Thanks for reading.

4theVoiceless,
Al