When Actions are Dictated by What You Have on Hand

You may have an idea for how you’d like to execute a plan, but sometimes your resources dictate your strategy.

Let me give you an example of what I mean.

In college a buddy of mine, Rich, and I both had paintball guns, ammo, and masks. The nearest paintball place was…I don’t know…forever away, and I’m sure it wasn’t cheap. Our school was situated in a pretty rural setting, and this was a generation ago, so stuff we could get away with back then probably wouldn’t fly today. The two of us figured “hey, there are acres of forest nearby, how about we do some one-on-one out in the woods?”

We were both game, so we went out to the woods one day with our paintball gear. We agreed on the boundaries, set up a time limit, and discussed some other rules. I had my Walmart special…a cheapo pump-action paintball gun that came with a 10-round tube and a mini CO₂ cylinder that fit inside the handle. I don’t know where Rich got his, but I know it was a semi-automatic paintball gun with a hopper that held about 200 rounds and a CO₂ canister that was just about as big as the hopper.

He could probably spray about a dozen paintballs in the time it took me to fire off two. The ratio was even worse if I wanted to shoot with accuracy. If I got into a firefight with Rich, he’d obliterate me. I’d be pink or yellow for a week. The only way I could win was if I somehow got the drop on him, but I needed a strategy.

Since the tools at my disposal didn’t give me a lot of offensive horsepower, I decided I’d find a good ambush spot and try to make my first shot be the only shot I’d need. Once we split up and headed into the woods, I took off running along one of the trails, looking for a spot that suited my needs. I forget the exact measure that we agreed on, but we were able to go up to five or 10 steps off the trail on either side. I found a spot that gave me a decent field of fire and was far enough off the trail that he shouldn’t spot me right away.

I pushed a bunch of leaves into a pile and then sort of crawled under them, spreading them out over me as best I could. The idea was to stay hidden so he’d get close enough for me to take my shot. Once I got my camouflage set up, I chambered a round, turned off the safety, and waited.

It’s funny how nerve-wracking waiting can be. Trying to lay silently under a pile of leaves doesn’t really work for a significant length of time, and any noise you make seems like it gets amplified. You don’t have the same quality of vision wearing a clunky mask, and it starts to get fogged up as you get hot.

Eventually Rich came into view, patrolling the trail. He was locked, loaded and on high alert, ready to grease anything that moved. As he approached, it looked like he was going to get close to me without noticing my position. I tracked him with the gun, lining up my shot as my finger tightened on the trigger. I went for it. I took the shot, hoping to end the game with one trigger pull.

I missed.

The shot gave away my position and Rich unleashed paint fury as he ran out of the kill zone. It all happened so fast I didn’t even try to load another round as Rich’s suppressing fire rained down paintballs all through the area I was hiding in. Then, he was gone. I blew my only chance. It turns out that aside from about 10 seconds, this wasn’t a very exciting paintball match. Time soon ran out and we were both still alive; it was a draw.

The thing is, though, I don’t see how I could’ve obtained a better outcome. My circumstances dictated that no matter how aggressive I wanted to be, I had to choose a path that considered the resources at my disposal and gave me greater odds of success.

The same may hold true for you in your Christian walk. After Christ gets hold of you, He usually has some things He wants you to accomplish in your life. It may be as simple as forgiving someone you feel has wronged you. For Saul (later Paul), the plan after his salvation was to be a missionary and church planter. For us, reading the Bible almost 2,000 years later, we say “well, yeah, it’s Paul…being a missionary and planting churches is what he did.” Sure, but there was a time when that plan wasn’t so clear. Paul didn’t know right away that he was going to make four missionary trips, get shipwrecked three or four times, get bitten by a poisonous snake, receive 39 lashes on five different occasions, endure an earthquake in prison, and be stoned and left for dead. By the time he died, he had survived all of those things, but before he even encountered the first one of them, he had to start somewhere.

Maybe you’ll one day be a giant of the faith. Maybe you already are. Here’s the thing though: God sometimes limits your resources, or removes opportunities from your life so He can steer you toward something you wouldn’t have otherwise chosen. We usually think of it as something bad, but it’s more like a divine course correction.

All that to say…if you’ve been looking for a way to serve God but aren’t quite sure how to get started, consider this question instead: taking into account the time, skills, and other resources at your disposal, what CAN you do? The fewer the options, the clearer the choice.

Lord, I know in my head You have a plan for my life and You want me to use the tools I have to bring You glory. Help me to see the direction I should go, what I should do, and how You want me to get started. Please also help me to realize and accept that even if I don’t get it exactly right, I’m not going to ruin Your plans. Amen