Interrupted

I was reminded on Sunday in Terry's excellent class about two times when God "interrupted" my life to teach me. Terry's class this week was on listening to God. Some of the thoughts were of our need to find solitude to listen to God. A dvd by Rob Bell called Noise set the stage (his dvd's are amazing!). It was entitled "Noise." As I sat there I was reminded of those times when I was not in solitude, in fact was in a very noisey place but God still got my attention to teach.
One place was in Mississippi. We were at a Friday night baseball game that Matt and Nathan were involved in. Those games were certainly a community social event. A relatively cool evening after a hot muggy day, people enjoying each other's company as we sat watching our boys play. (I am wondering if the girls were excluded along with the blacks?) Jamie was there with us and was 3 or 4. I was keeping my eye on him as I watched the game and he played with other kids. Then I realized I hadn't seen him for a bit. I began to look for him. At first I wasn't worried. We were surrounded by friends and all our kids were playing together. But then I became concerned. Friends joined in the search and still he couldn't be found. After several minutes of search a friend called to me. She had found him. There was a shack in the park. As I neared the small building I was aware of a few things: a small group of people gathered, looking in the door; the disgusted and angry look on the face of my friend who found Jamie and my own rising fear of what I might see. As I looked in the door Jamie was there with another boy who might have been 7. I think the boys were trying to go to the bathroom. It was then that I was interrupted. Instead of being concerned and going to the aid of Jamie, I was drawn, instead to look at the boy. He was not a popular kid. He was from a poor "white trash" family. He was dirty and unkept. We were a part of another social group, the "in" crowd. Those gathered around were angry at him for his obvious luring of Jamie to such a situation. In a sense this boy had attacked our nice, safe, comfortable evening. Our nice, safe child from our nice, safe world. But God took me from the place I usually might have been. My attention was drawn to the boy. I saw him. Really saw him the way he was. Alone. No one cared that he was "lost." No one cared about his life. No one. Jamie was surrounded by people who loved him, thought he was precious and worth looking for. This boy was lost.
The second time God "interrupted" me was more recently when I was in the Philadelphia airport. The moment is more difficult to describe. It was simply a moment like any other. I had checked in and was walking to my gate. People were all around me going to their gates. Typical Philadelphia, people from many different ethnic groups, sizes, shapes. In the middle of that moment I was made aware that God loved these people. All of them, each one. Not one was left out. I'm sure I did not even then understand the magnitude of that love or I couldn't have born it. It was just a simple truth shown to me in a very simple way. I treasure that moment and wish I could experience it again. To feel that love was a gift I thank God for and the more words I put in this writing, the more I try to explain, the more the experience is diminished, so I will stop.
I only want to say, why did God give me those experiences? What does it mean about how I should spend this day?