A Time to Keep

Last Thursday I spent my lunch break selling tickets for a region track and field meet at my son's high school. I saw him briefly and told him that his race time conflicted with a meeting I had that afternoon. On my way back to work, I decided that no meeting was worth missing my son's race, even if it was only exhibition. I swung by my house, picked up my good camera and returned to work. I made plans to miss the meeting and left a few hours later.

I got to see him shine. He ran the second leg of a 4-man race, running two of the eight laps. His time for the 1/2 mile was 12 min, 36 sec. He was the second fastest on the team. I took lots of photos and got several nice shots.

After the race, I tracked him down and we sat talking for a few minutes. I asked if he knew I was there. Yes, he had seen me in the stands. He asked, "Didn't you have a meeting?" To which I replied, "Yeah, but I blew it off. You're more important." He gave my a nod, a half smile and a fist bump. That was worth it all.

Ecclesiastes 3:6 A time to gain, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to throw away;

I may have had to take some vacation time and miss work, but I gained an unforgettable moment with my son.