The Dentist Chair

I go to the dentist twice a year for my checkup, cleaning, and polishing.
Usually, the dentist will say that everything looks good.
I leave with my toothbrush and my dental floss.
This time, I had to return to the office the following week.

I needed to have a cavity filled.
There was an old filling, and the cavity was somewhere between my two back teeth.
It had to be done even though it was not bothering me.
I made the appointment for early in the morning.

I have been going to the same dentist for most of my married life.
In fact, I knew our dentist before he was our dentist.
We tend to hear that the world keeps getting smaller.
I found that to be true.

Years ago, when I was in college, I worked for a bank.
I worked as a bank teller every summer.
I settled the ATM machines after hours during the school year with a group of people.
My summers were spent at one particular branch in a small town.

I loved the customers and the people I worked with at that branch.
One customer in particular got a lot of attention.
He got attention because he resembled a famous person.
He got attention because he had a wonderful Australian accent.

He would come into the bank wearing long surfing shorts and Hawaiian shirts.
His hair was long on the sides.
His demeanor was pleasant and friendly.
It was the accent that everyone loved.

At the time, there was a TV show called, Mork and Mindy.
The main character, a spaceman from the imaginary planet Ork, was named Mork.
Mork was played by an actor named, Robin Williams, who became very famous from that show.
This customer looked just like him.

Here comes Robin Williams, some of my coworkers would say.
He often came to my window.
He went to dental school at the University of Pennsylvania but lived in this little town.
When I left the bank to get married, I knew I would not see many of my customers again.

My husband and I lived in an apartment for almost a year after we were first married.
We moved into our first house and lived there for five years.
When we moved from that house into the house that we built, we needed to find another dentist.
We had two little daughters at that point so a family dentist was high up on our list.

A neighbor recommended a wonderful local dentist.
He is a very good dentist, she said, and you will love his accent.
It isn’t an Australian accent, is it? I asked.
It is! How did you guess that? She asked surprised.

I know him; he was one of my customers when I worked at a bank before we were married.
I told my husband that I found a dentist for all of us.
I made an appointment.
He would not have known me by my married name.

When he walked in to meet his new patient, he was so surprised.
Gone were the long surfing shorts and Hawaiian shirts.
Still remaining was the wonderful Australian accent.
He loved to tell the story about the bank, and the little town, and how he was my customer.

All seven of us went to his office twice a year.
With school and sports, I met his wife and his children.
Then one day, after being our dentist for many years, he told me that he was going to retire.
There would be a time of transition while he would be in the office with the new dentist.

That time has come and gone.
He selected a wonderful dentist to take his place.
No surfing shorts, Hawaiian shirts, bank stories, or Australian accent.
Just a new dentist who is very good at what he does and who transitioned quite well.

I thought of all of that as I sat in the chair getting a cavity filled.
I thought of all of that as I heard the drill doing what drills do.
I thought of that as I stared at a picture from Australia that still hangs in that room.
I thought of that as I remembered all those years ago meeting the man who looked like Mork.

…anoint Elisha, son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah to succeed you as prophet…So Elijah went from there and found Elisha son of Shaphat. He was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen, and he himself was driving the twelfth pair. Elijah went up to him and threw his cloak around him. Elisha then left his oxen and ran after Elijah. “Let me kiss my father and mother goodbye,” he said, “and then I will come with you.” “Go back,” Elijah replied. “What have I done to you?” So Elisha left him and went back. He took his yoke of oxen and slaughtered them. He burned the plowing equipment to cook the meat and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he set out to follow Elijah and became his attendant. (1 Kings 19:16, 19-21)

God knew that the prophet Elijah would need a successor.
God chose Elisha to succeed him.
There was work to be done.
What Elijah started, Elisha would now continue.

Oftentimes, managers or CEOs have a hard time with the idea of succession.
They have done the job for so long and feel that it cannot be done without them.
However, any good manager knows that you work towards replacing yourself at any time.
No one is indispensable.

Elijah was taken up to heaven in a whirlwind.
Elijah was seen on the Mount of Transfiguration with Moses and Jesus in all His glory.
Elijah’s replacement continued the work of Elijah but was not Elijah.
Replacing someone is never easy but often it is God-ordained.

We all play a part in God’s Kingdom work.
We must have our eyes on the prize, which is eternity in heaven with God.
We work diligently here for God’s glory, realizing that we can carry the baton only so far.
The next runner takes the baton in the hand off.

We have to make sure that we pass the baton well.
We have to make sure that our successor can continue the work.
If it is God’s work, He will make sure it continues.
We each play our part for as long as God determines.

It’s funny what you think about in the dentist chair.
God whispers His truth everywhere, even over the sound of a dental drill.
He speaks in the ordinary moments.
Do you hear Him?