A side note, really. Acts 10.

Through the last few chapters of Acts, big things have been happening. Signs and miracles, healings, death and resurrection. The church is growing incredibly fast. So fast, opposition has surfaced again. Steven martyred. The people staying in Jerusalem chased back to where they came from, taking the good news with them. Saul the persecuter, converted in a flash.

In Acts 10, God prepares the way for the next big thing -- full acceptance of the Gentiles into the new church. It won't overnight, but it will happen. But instead of this new big thing, I was struck this morning by a phrase, a side note, really, to the enormous change God is nurturing in this chapter.

Now while Peter was puzzling over what the vision he had seen could signify, the men sent by Cornelius had learned where Simon’s house was and approached the gate. (v.10:17 - NET)

Two thoughts jump out at me from this verse. The first thought, is that Peter was spending the time trying to understand what God had said to Him in the vision. While he was confused as to the meaning of the vision, he didn't just let it go. The second thought is that the men sent by Cornelius arrived at precisely this moment.

I don't want to make too much of this. But I'm sitting here wondering right now, about whether there are moments of opportunity to learn about God, about ourselves, about life, about what to do next, and what we need to change and grow, that come right at the moment we spend time meditating on what God has told us in the text. Perhaps especially at the moment when we wrestle with something hard to understand. Do we, do I, miss those opportunities if we don't wrestle, but just move on? Are they the very moments God planned for us to grow, and if they slip by, how long before we again have the chance to discover what we could have discovered in that moment? And under what new circumstances?

So, I'm going to post this now, but continue to think about what God wants to signify in Acts 10.