Running Late...or right on time?

Lots of stuff has happened lately. I'll try to catch up later, but I have to share a cool story about dinner tonight. We had Matt and Terri Hall (our Pastor and his wife, one of my best friends) over to eat with us. We've been very close to them since they did our pre-marital counseling 5 years ago, and haven't managed to have them over dinner before tonight. I had a nice roast thawed, and it was getting to the point of no return - you know, eat it in the next two days or you've wasted your money?
So, I talked to Terri last night about how best to cook it, how long, etc. Then I invited them over to come eat it! We agreed to eat around 6:30 or so, Matt could come right from work, etc, etc.
Well, Matt got a call from someone whose relative (a young woman) was visiting from out of town this week. The woman had gotten word that her alcoholic uncle (who lives in Tallahassee) was hospitalized, very ill, and not given much time to live. The woman called Matt to see if he would visit her uncle in the hospital, since she had been praying for him for a long time. Matt went to the hospital, planning a short "hello, how are you, sorry you're sick" kind of visit.
God had other plans. The uncle had been discharged from the hospital and released to a rehab center. Matt didn't know where the place was located, and he knew that he and Terri were supposed to be at our house for dinner at 6:30. Matt hates being late. But, as he drove toward his house to get Terri, he couldn't shake the feeling that he was supposed to see this man today. So he called Terri to find directions to the place, turns out he was right near it, and told her to call me and apologize, but he had a visit he had to make.
Meanwhile at the Casa de Zorro, I've had this roast in the oven for an hour and a half, and it's still reading 100 degrees in the middle. I was trying to get everything cooked and ready for 6:30 dinner.
God had other plans. The roast was taking forever, I didn't have room in my oven for the roast and the cake I just had to make (darn nesting instinct) and I had to take the cake across the street to bake at the neighbors house.
Vance calls. He's running late, some sort of last-minute emergency at the office and he doesn't even leave until after 6:15. On the way home, the Hulk starts ticking in the engine. Never a good thing. So when he finally gets home at 6:40, he's surprised that Matt and Terri aren't there yet, but relieved that he has the opportunity to diagnose the ticking issue before they arrive.
Matt and Terri pull in, Matt helps Vance with the truck, Terri helps me get the roast out and the darn thing is still not done.
Eventually, Vance and Matt come in from the garage, we get tea for everyone, the roast finishes and we sit down to eat, right around 7:15.
At this point, Matt tells us about the visit with the dying man that caused him to be late.
That man is now going to heaven when he dies, because Matt listened when God told him not to worry about being late to Vance and Michelle's house for dinner.
If Matt, Terri, and Vance had all arrived at the house at 6:30 for dinner, I would have been so upset that everything wasn't ready. Vance wouldn't have had time to figure out what was wrong with the Hulk. More importantly, Matt would have missed the opportunity to share Christ with a dying man. That man told his niece on Saturday that he had done too many bad things to go to heaven. I'm so thankful that nothing worked out on my timetable tonight.
Dinner was awesome, probably one of the best I've cooked in years. Just ran a little late...or did it?