Posterous theme by Cory Watilo

Race Against Time

I lifted my head off the wall and looked around the room drowsily. Clothes were piled sloppily on the iron board, shoes lay cluttered in the middle of the floor, and a chaotic heap of books and papers surrounded the laptop on the table before me. Everything in my room seemed to be in order. For some reason, however, I still felt as if something was different. I squinted at my bed, neatly made up by force of habit, and wondered for a moment why I wasn’t in it. Rubbing the sleep out of my eyes, I turned on my computer to check my email, when I was confronted by something unbelievably frightening: Unfinished homework.

All of a sudden, the events from the previous night came flooding back. I had been working on my first essay for English Composition when I had the sudden urge to rest my head on the wall for a few minutes. A few minutes turned into a few hours, and I was left here – gaping in disbelief at the incomplete paper that was due in about an hour. After carefully surveying the essay, I let out a sigh of relief. The only thing left to write was the conclusion. “This isn’t going to be a problem,” I thought to myself. “We English majors know how to make words fly onto a paper.” I grinned, placed my fingers on the keyboard, closed my eyes, and waited for the words to fly. Nothing flew. I began to panic. Now was definitely not a good time to be hit with severe writers’ block. After discovering that pacing did not help my writing process, I sat in front of the laptop and stared at it intently, hoping that by some divine miracle, the paper would start typing itself, leaving me with A-worthy material – assuming, of course, that miracles came with good grammar and punctuation. As I stared at the blinking cursor, it suddenly occurred to me that I hadn’t prayed. Bowing my head, I thanked God for a new day and asked him for a bit of assistance on my essay. Did the essay begin typing itself? No. Slowly and steadily, however, I was able to squeeze some words that made sense onto my paper. When I had finished, I smiled, leaned back in my chair, and began to relax.

Then I saw the time.

It was 8:29 – and class started at 9:00. I stiffened. I still had to print out my paper at the library and study for the quiz. In a single motion, I tossed on some clothes, stuffed whatever seemed important into my bag, and sped out the door, determined to keep running until I had the library in my sights.

I climbed up the stairs of McKee Library trying to catch my breath. I looked at my phone. 8:37. I was making good time. I jogged into the library and sat at the computer nearest to the door. Silently begging the computer to load faster, I printed my paper, took a moment to set it neatly in my folder, and dashed out the door. From McKee, I ran all the way across campus to Miller Hall. Arriving at the steps, I glanced at the time. 8:56. I smiled. I had made it with four minutes to spare. I opened the door to my class – only to find a set of students I had never seen before. I stared quietly at them for a few moments and a few of them stared back. After about five or six seconds, I slowly closed the door and walked away.

 

I was confused. What had happened? I mentally revised my schedule. Was I in the wrong building? Maybe I had – Then the truth slapped me across the face. My class started at 9:30. I could have gotten upset – I mean, I had every right to. I had just raced back and forth across campus for no reason. Instead of anger, however, I suddenly felt a peace that I couldn’t really understand. I began to realize how much I needed God on a daily basis. Sure, I know to call on Him for the big things, but He doesn’t want to be excluded from the little things. He wants to help me write three sentences for a conclusion, help me get to class on time, and help me survive a run across campus. What I’m realizing more and more is that He just wants to be there for us – whether we need help or not – simply because of His unconditional love. Chuckling lightly to myself, I whispered, “Thanks God,” sat on the floor, and started studying for my quiz.