Just in case vs. just in time

I was looking for a safety pin tonight and asked my wife where I could find one. As one of my options, she directed me to our travel bag of toiletries. I found a good sized box of safety pins in our overstuffed travel bag. And I wondered what those were doing there.

I’ve often wondered why there is more than enough in that bag. When I travel somewhere alone I pack my toothbrush, toothpaste some deodorant, and my hair wax. If I’m going to be more than a couple of days, I might include a razor. I figure most hotels and houses I’m staying at have soap and shampoo. I figure if I end up really needing anything else, I can borrow or buy it.

Anywhere I go I take great delight in packing the bare essentials; I want to carry with me only what I know I will need (except for books, I always take way too many books!)

Deborah, on the other hand, packs what might come in handy. Multiple lotions, shampoo, conditioner, and all kinds of other things that frankly would defy cataloging outside of a careful inventory.

She packs with a ‘just in case’ mentality.

I’m not criticizing her method; I’ve been saved countless times on the road because she had something that I was certain we wouldn’t have with us. But I do want to point out the difference. Just in case quit smoking electronic cigarette vs. just in time.

One practice makes sure you have plenty of resources around in the event that you just might need something. The other practice adds a resource only at the very moment it is needed.

We can think of this difference in other terms, too:

• In education, we can attain information just in case we need it, or we can learn to find the information just when we need it.

• In business, we can keep large inventories on hand because there may be unknown demand, or we can create a supply chain that allows us to order and ship just in time.

• In a household, we can pile up all kinds of material from nuts and bolts to Taco Bell sporks and hot-sauce packets in the event that it could come in handy, or we can live simply, do without, and go out and get just what we really need just when we really need it.

• In discipleship, we can try to teach a new believer everything they will ever need to know, just in case, or we can start simply with the basics and add to understanding as situations come up so they will be able to assimilate the knowledge, just in time.

I think life is lived in tension between just in case and just in time, and it’s up to us to learn how to strike the right balance.