OUT TO PASTOR: As luck would have it

Quite frankly, I do not believe in luck in any degree. Sometimes things happen that you can’t plan for, which turns out to be rather good. Luck has nothing to do with it.

This past week my granddaughter went to the hospital on a Tuesday morning to have her first baby.

The day was busy for me. On the other side of town, I visited somebody in the hospital. I stopped at my bank to do a little bit of business. I also had to pick up some office-supplies.

I stopped (don’t let The Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage know) and got a cup of coffee and a delicious Apple Fritter. So while munching on this forbidden fruit, I looked at my watch and saw that it was a little after 3 o’clock.

I thought I might have time to stop at the hospital and check on my granddaughter to see how she was doing.

I didn’t have to think very long along this line, and as I pulled out of my Apple Fritter palace, I decided to go to the hospital on the other side of town.

The traffic was terrible at 3 o’clock in the afternoon, and I almost decided to go home. But, “as luck would have it,” I decided to continue to the hospital.

Arriving at the hospital, the parking lot was so full that it took me some time to find a parking space. Finally, I found a place and parked my vehicle and headed for the hospital.

I would never say this out loud, but sometimes these hospitals are almost like psych wards. At the front desk I introduced myself and asked where my granddaughter was. They told me the floor and room number.

I went to the elevator and saw a sign that said, “Do not enter if flashing.” I’m not quite sure, but I can’t remember the last time I did any flashing. So very cautiously, I got into the elevator. Thankfully, I was alone.

But how many 4th floors can a hospital have? I was to go to the fourth floor, and they gave me the room number. So I went there, and when I walked in, I almost dropped over. In the bed was a man who looked like he was 125-years-old and had every physical problem in the book. So I gasped and then went back to the nurse’s desk in panic.

I found out this hospital has two 4th floors, and, “as luck would have it,” I was on the wrong 4th floor.

I had to go down the hallway, turn to my right, then turn to my left and I will find a door that would lead me to where I wanted to go.

I finally got up to the nurse’s desk and asked where my granddaughter would be. Right behind me was a hallway, and her room was the seventh one on the left.

I knocked on the door in full preparation that I had the wrong room. I was invited in, and “as luck would have it,” I was at the right place, and there was my granddaughter.

The new father-to-be and his mother were there beside her. I joined them, and we had a very pleasant conversation. I thought I would be there for 10, maybe 15 minutes, and then I would leave and go home. It was around 4 o’clock, so I planned to go home for supper.

As the conversation developed, she was ready to have the baby anytime. “As luck would have it,” I would be there and see our great-granddaughter before my wife would be there. She planned to be there on Wednesday when the baby was due.

The nurse came in, and we went out to the waiting room to wait for the good news.

I now know why they call it the “waiting room.” All you can do in that room is wait, wait, wait. Over two hours later, we received notification that she had the baby and we could go in.

As we walked down the hall to the room, we were stopped, and it was the wrong baby. Therefore, we had to go back to the “waiting room” and wait some more.

Finally, we got another call, and it was the right one this time, and we went in and saw the new baby, my great-granddaughter. Of all the babies I’ve seen, this has to be one of the most beautiful.

We all had the privilege of holding this baby, and I was elated when it was my turn. I now could go home and rub this in The Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage’s face. I got to hold our great-granddaughter before she did. I certainly will remember this for the rest of my life.

Wallowing in my delight about my new Great-granddaughter I could not help but think of what Solomon said in Proverbs 17:6, “Children’s children are the crown of old men; and the glory of children are their fathers.”

Whenever I feel sorry for myself because I’m getting old, and getting old does have a negative side, there is the positive side. If I was not as old as I am, I would never have seen my Great-granddaughter.

Dr. James L. Snyder lives in Ocala, FL with the Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage. Telephone is (352) 216-3025, e-mail is jamessnyder51@gmail.com, website is www.jamessnyderministries.com.