For Just Such a Time As this

“And who knows whether it was just for such a time as this…?”

One of my favorite stories in the Tanakh is the story of Esther. Not for the traditional reasons, but because there is a concept here that I have long believed. The idea is that even if you believe that G-d is some sort of puppet show director and controlling everything everything (and for the record, I do not believe that), you may never know why things are happening as they are happening

What do I mean? if you will permit me to talk a personal perspective for a few moments.

A long time ago, so long ago that it seems like a different lifetime, I was a Navy instructor. I didn’t want to be a Navy Instructor, but as things turned out I had no say in the matter. I had a bunch of students to whom I transferred knowledge and wisdom and then sent them off to the fleet with the full expectation that I would be forgotten along with my lessons. Or so I thought.

Later, I became a Pastor. I didn’t want to be a Pastor, but other people kept telling me that G-d wanted me to be a Pastor. For the record, they were lying. But I had a couple of congregations who, as was normal practice in my denomination, were used to pastors coming and going on a regular basis. I was just another in a life long line of forgettable faces and barely heard sermons. Or so I thought.

After that I became a Radio Talk Show host. I actually wanted to do that, and I loved almost everything about it. I had an audience who listened – as all radio audiences do – in short fifteen minute increments and then moved on to whatever was on the other station(s). Or… so I thought.

You may never know what effect you have on other people. Good, bad, or indifferent, the truth is every atom in your body effects someone else in some way. It’s just that you almost never really know how.

Except that sometimes, in very rare cases, long after the fact, you get to find out…