Never Be Late (originally sent August 15, 1999)
June 23, 2008
Dear Friends,
This week we want to consider one of the truly great mysteries of our time. We are not talking about Stonehenge, crop circles or Sasquatch, but habitual lateness to Sunday School. Why is it that some people are ALWAYS late?
You know these guys. We are on the third stanza of the hymn “Never Be Late to Your Sunday School Class” when these guys sheepishly slip in the door to our sly grins and nudges. The same people are not just late to Sunday School, but late to just about everything.
You would think habitual lateness would be the easiest problem to cure in the world. Let’s say your problem is that you are always 5 minutes late to Sunday School. Easy cure, right? A preschooler could figure this one out. I’ll give you three possible solutions and you pick the correct answer. A) Set your alarm 5 minutes later. B) Do not change your clock. C) Set your alarm 5 minutes earlier. If you said “C”, you have picked the logical solution. You also have no clue about late people.
My wife is neither a late person nor a early person. She is an “exactly on time person.” This creates a problem for us since I am a big time early person. I want to take my time driving to meeting, get there 10- 15 minutes before it starts, help setup and talk to a few people before we have to sit down. LeAnn is the kind that rushes around all morning like a whirling dervish until she just hits her seat panting as the last note of “take your seats” music fades into the distance.
LeAnn is in many ways like a habitually late person. She cannot force her mind to understand that unless you leave earlier, you are not going to get there any earlier.
I tried the simple strategy of setting the alarm earlier for her. She simply fills the extra time with extra activity. If I set the alarm 10 minutes earlier, she curls the girl’s hair. If I set the alarm a half an hour earlier, she cleans the kitchen. Whatever amount of time I set the alarm earlier than before, she manages to fill it with something. I am fully convinced that if I set the alarm early enough on Sunday morning and left the paint cans out, she could have the house painted before we left for meeting.
My solution to date is to have a Sunday morning countdown. About an hour before we leave, I become the town crier. “It’s an hour before we have to leave and all’s well.” “It’s 25 minutes before we have to leave and all’s well.” “It’s one minute before we have to leave and you BETTER be heading for the car.” Sure enough, 5-10 minutes LATER we are heading down the driveway with one or more of my three still getting ready. We always have at least one dressing, eating breakfast, brushing hair or applying makeup in the car. (I don’t even have teenagers yet!)
Everyone knows that the only way to get a habitually late person to be on time is to change the time on them. If Sunday School starts at 9:30 AM, tell them it starts at 9:15 AM. They will be there right on time….just like us.
Have a great week,
Kyle Tucker
Due to the demands of Bible school season, I will be taking a brief four week break from the TFTW. In the meantime, I will share with you some TFTW classics. Enjoy!
