A few weeks ago, my assistant stood in my office door and said, "I have a woman on the phone, and I'm not sure how to respond." 

"Ok. What does she need?" I asked.

"Well, she wanted to know if we are the church that gives out the gas cards." 

Either our church has a reputation out in the community for giving out gas cards, or this woman knew an individual whom we had previously helped and wanted to know if we had more cards on hand. My assistant said that we were all out, but that she would be happy to go get more. 

"That would be great," I said. "Tell her to stop by some time after 2 p.m., and we'll have something for her." 

It was just before noon when she called. My assistant ran out right away to go pick up a few cards, and within fifteen minutes, the woman who called arrived at our church. Another staff member came to let me know she was here and had a friend with her. I went to greet them and said that we had sent someone to get her a gas card, and that they would be back in a few minutes. I invited them to hang out in the lobby, and said we'd be with her shortly. 

They took a seat and the woman who called said she was grateful for the help. I went back to my office to carry on with my work. 

A few minutes later, glued to my computer screen and typing away on my keyboard, out of the corner of my eye, I saw the woman who called asking for help. I spun in my chair to face her and asked if she needed anything. She had found a brochure about our church in the lobby and wanted to know what time our services were. 

"They're at 8:45 &10:30 a.m. We'd love to have you join us sometime," I said. 

"That'd be nice," she replied. "I'd like to do that sometime." 

She lingered awkwardly for a minute indicating she wanted to chat more, but I didn’t engage. I spun back to my computer. A few minutes later, the friend who came with this woman also appeared in my doorway. She had found the stack of free Bibles we keep on hand in the lobby for people who don't have one. She stood in my doorway, flipping through it, and asked if she could keep it.

 "Of course. You are more than welcome to it." 

She also lingered for a little while showing signs of wanting further conversation before she slowly returned to the lobby. I thought about closing my door, but figured that would have been too obvious, passive-aggressive, and a bit rude. I took my chances and kept my door open. 

My assistant was back at the church within ten minutes and came to my office with a gas card. It turned out that both the woman and her friend were asking for one. When I went out to pass them along, they each had a stack of stuff they had gathered from our lobby: brochures, Bibles, info. cards, and even coffee mugs. They were very grateful for the help and all the stuff they had picked up. They continued asking more questions about our church and said they'd love to come to a service. By this point, it was apparent that not only did they want gas cards, they also were desiring to connect relationally with someone. They would have talked with me for thirty minutes if I let them. 

There's a story in Luke 18:35-43, in which Jesus traveled through Jericho on His way to Jerusalem. As He made His way through the town, a blind beggar on the side of the road called out to Jesus to have mercy on him. Those who were leading the crowd with Jesus scolded the man and told him to be quiet. Essentially, they were saying, "Don't bother Jesus."

He's a busy guy. He's got somewhere to be. He's got important work to do. He can't stop to talk with anyone who calls out to Him. 

But in the story, Jesus did just that. He put everything on hold and stopped the entire crowd. He asked that the man be brought to Him and gave him His undivided attention. Jesus made him feel as though he was the most important person to Him at that moment. 

This passage continually challenges me because I have a hard time being interrupted. I have my schedule, my planned meetings, my tasks that I need to accomplish, and when they get derailed, I tend to get annoyed. 

When the phone call came through that these ladies were looking for help, my initial thought was, "I don't have time for this today." But the reality was, I did have time. Those two ladies were at our church for no more than fifteen minutes. When I was standing in the lobby, passing along the gas cards, I realized I had missed a significant moment to practice the way of Jesus. 

I realized that I was thinking of myself and my work as more important than the women. Instead of going back to my office to finish whatever I was working on (which was probably answering emails), I should've set it aside to sit with them in the lobby and get to know them. I'm not so important that fifteen minutes would ever make or break my day. 

In fact, I still accomplished everything I needed on that day.. 

When it comes to interruptions, don't be quick to resist them. It doesn’t matter if it's your kids, co-workers, or neighbors. Instead, look at them through a different lens. Rather than seeing them as interruptions, see them as opportunities to minister and extend the grace of Christ to others in your life. Sometimes, it's the unexpected moments that are the most meaningful. You never know what Jesus might do in and through you when you open your life to Him and the people around you.