Take Me To The Other Side

It's early, or at least it was early when I woke up this morning. I watched part of a show about natural healing last night. One complaint about modern society is that we all go to bed too late. I immediately put a remedial plan into action and went to bed. Of course, I woke up at 0336 this morning feeling ready to go. I think I'll take the hit today and leave my bedtime alone. Well, maybe take the hit with a nap this afternoon to ease the blow. This morning, I wondered about the other side.

Yes, we do want to go to the other side of death and be with Jesus, but that isn't the other side I was thinking about today. A friend on Facebook complained about a restaurant closed on Monday. Okay, but I know the other side of that particular business. I recall my years working at a small restaurant that opened every day with the exception of Christmas and New Year's Day. We also opened at 0500 and closed at 2100 or later. I can recall the winter nights when no one came in for three hours while all manner of fuel and electricity was wasted, and then the indignation when that customer squeezed in at the last moment before closing and wondered why so much was shut down. Later in life, I walked around to the other side and knew the 'yikes!' feeling of a small crew boss when we made it to the restaurant just a little too late and I couldn't feed the men a good meal that night. Yes, the younger ones were good with McDonald's, but good leaders want to do better than that after a hard day's work. So, what's all this other side stuff about?

We are blessed, or at times cursed, with a certain power today. When we complain, we can complain to hundreds or thousands of people at once. Gone are the days when a complaint launched on a spur of the moment to one friend might spread more quickly than we would like after some careful reflection. Even back in the good old days of word of mouth we came to realize that a good look at the other side might have prevented us from complaining in public, but now the public really can be the entire public. Time for careful reflection is further compromised by almost instantaneous access to the Internet on our various wireless and cellular devices. Our prayer for today might be that the Lord would take us to the other side for just a bit before we air a complaint or comment.

Bucky