The 11th Hour

“‘And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing around; and he said to them, “Why have you been standing here idle all day long?”‘” (Matthew 20:6)

You’ve heard the phrase “the eleventh hour” before? Sure you have. What you might not have known is its biblical roots. In His parable of the workers in the vineyard, Jesus uses the “eleventh hour” to refer to that time late in the day where something takes place.

And God has a way of coming through in our lives at the last second (in the “eleventh hour”). Have you discovered that? (You may be waiting on Him right now and it’s getting late and you’re wondering if He’ll show up?)

It was the eleventh hour. I was a new (baby) Christian. My roommate was moving out so I needed a new one as I didn’t have enough by myself to pay for rent and food, too (for my 2 cats and myself).

It had been a few weeks and still no new roommate. I didn’t know what I was going to do. So I went out to my usual Friday night ministry. We were passing out tracts and sharing our faith at different locations in town each week (street witnessing).

It was around 11:45 p.m. (the “eleventh hour”) when I was in a truck getting a ride home with a couple of guys. I mentioned again my concern for needing a roommate and not having one yet and how the very next day (Saturday) was the day I needed one and I didn’t know what I was going to do. That’s when the guy sitting in the middle of the seat (between the driver and I) who I’d never met before that night said, “I need a place to stay.”

I said, “You’re kidding me?” 🙂

(The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard picture above in the public domain: click here.)

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About Pastor Mike

Pastor Mike is making the most of web technologies to encourage disciples. A self-proclaimed “twitterholic,” one twitter follower describes him as the “jogging, blogging, tweeting Pastor.” Visits to Pastor Mike’s blog (A Heart For God) number in the hundreds of thousands. His video blogs have been viewed over a half a million times.