A young man wasted his money and needed $200 to get his car fixed. He called his parents collect via the operator, and said, “Dad, I need two hundred dollars.”
Dad said, “Sorry, I can’t hear you, son, there may be a bad line.”
The boy shouted, “Two hundred. I need two hundred dollars!”
“Sorry, I still can’t hear you.” said his father.
Then the operator cut in, “Sorry to butt in, but I can hear him perfectly.”
“Oh, good,” said the father. You send him the money!”
There may be times when the best way to deal with some requests for your time is to simply ignore them. I’m not talking about people with genuine needs or those we have a responsibility to minister to, but rather those who want us to give time to something we just don’t feel God wants us to do.
When that happens to you, remember allowing some requests to go unanswered might be the most tactful way to redeem the time.
Rick Grubbs is best known as the host of “Redeeming the Time,” a one-minute radio program featured on hundreds of radio outlets around the world. He has spoken thousands of times on Biblical time management in all 50 states and 26 other countries. He is the author of the book “Morning Momentum: God’s plan for launching an unstoppable day”. He and his wife Carrie live in Salisbury NC with several of their 12 children.
