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Rise to the Occasion

by Jerry Ousley  
11/28/2015 / Christian Living

Suddenly it was dark. The men of our church had taken us teenage boys to the camp grounds for an overnight venture. There was a pole lamp that stood twenty to twenty-five feet in the air providing a dim light for us as we sat and ate our meal. The evening had progressed and the night had set in. But when the bulb burnt out our light was gone.

"Which one of you boys can climb that pole and put in a new bulb?" one of the men asked. It seemed like a simple chore to a teenage boy and I quickly volunteered. Today I understand why the men asked if one of the boys would do it, because if I had to do it now, well, it would probably be daylight before I finally reached the top of that pole. But then I had all the energy a youth could muster.

As I said the metal pole rose about twenty to twenty-five feet in the air, was about an inch thick and at the top it crooked out about ten inches with the lamp at the end of the crook. It didn't take long for me to climb that pole hand over hand with my legs wrapped around it and once I made it to the top I hung onto the crook with one hand and reached up to unscrew the burnt out bulb with the other. Then I dropped it to one of the other boys who caught it. Next I reached into my shirt pocket where I had put the new bulb then reached up to screw it in. A simple task, so it seemed. The way it was situated I couldn't actually see what I was doing. Unscrewing the old bulb was a cinch because I just reached up, found the bulb and unscrewed it. Finding the socket to screw in the new bulb proved to be a much more difficult task.

I found it but not in the way I intended. What I wound up doing was sticking my finger into the socket. Immediately 110 volts of electricity began flowing through my body. Somehow I kept from dropping the bulb but I've always wondered if it lit up while I hung there as a human conductor of electricity. I got my finger out about as quickly as it had gone in but if you've ever had electricity flow through your body you know how it feels. There I hung with one hand on the crook and my body felt like jello; you know, like you had no strength at all and you were just wiggling with the movement of the air. Somehow I managed to get down and as another boy shinnied up the pole and finished my job I was in recovery on the ground. I was quick to rise to the occasion sure enough but I had no idea how electrifying the experience would be!

Another habit we should develop as Christians is the ability to rise to the occasion. But not like I did on that light pole. You see I had bragged to the other boys about how easy it would be and I got my payback for my bragging. For the believer it is not an opportunity to show off but being able to recognize an opportunity to do something for the Lord and getting up and doing it. Many may see an opportunity and have a good idea but unless they "rise to the occasion" and put some legs on their ideas all they've done is stick their finger into a light socket.

Just before Saul was made the first king of Israel, Samuel told him what was going to happen to him on his way back home. These events were signs that God had certainly chosen him to be king. In the course of that conversation he said this to Saul, "And let it be, when these signs come to you, that you do as the occasion demands; for God is with you." (1 Samuel 10:7). Samuel was telling Saul in so many words that when God presented the opportunity that he was to act as the occasion demanded. We are to follow that example. The Lord will put us in situations where we can be a witness for Him, or perhaps save a life, or do an act of kindness that will ultimately work for the good and point to the Lord. We are to rise to the occasion but in order to do that we must develop the ability to recognize an opportunity when the Lord presents it.

Jesus was speaking about persecution to His disciples. He told them that they would be taken as prisoners and brought before kings and rulers to defend themselves. Hear His words in Luke 21:13 "But it will turn out for you as an occasion for testimony." He was telling them that even bad things that happened to them would become tools to witness for Christ. Jesus is still doing that today. Instead of grumbling and complaining when things happen let's develop the habit of seeing opportunity even in the bad things and let us rise to the occasion.

Jerry D. Ousley is the author of "Soul Challenge", "Soul Journey", "Ordeal", "The Spirit Bread Daily Devotional" and his first novel "The Shoe Tree." Newer books include "Finality" and "Dividing God's Church." Visit our website at spiritbread.com to download these and more completely free of charge

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