I used to really enjoy kneeboarding. It’s an activity where you’re kneeling on a board while being pulled behind a boat. The boat’s wake makes a ramp you can use for jumping or sliding around on. I was able to master a couple of minor kneeboarding tricks, but for some reason I really had my heart set on doing a barrel roll.
I’ll let you in on a little secret. I didn’t realize it at the time, but that particular trick wasn’t possible to do with the setup we had. The boat we used only had the factory/stock pylon, which is where the ski rope connected to the boat. For this trick to work, we needed an extra tall pylon or a ski/wakeboard tower, so while you’re still mid-air, the rope is pulling you up, rather than straight ahead. It allows you to get a little extra hangtime, resulting in some additional rotation.
Of course, I was blissfully ignorant of this. I figured I just needed to work harder on my technique. I’d get halfway, maybe three quarters of the way around, then crash into the water. Sometimes my face would be the first thing to hit. Other times I didn’t know what hit first; I’d bob to the surface with my neck suddenly sore from an awkward entry into the water. Every now and then the kneeboard would go flying high into the air in a spectacular wreck. The life jacket was nice because I’d be so disoriented upon being thrashed into the water, I didn’t know which way was up. Thankfully, it pointed me in the right direction.
I couldn’t figure out what I was doing wrong. We tried different speeds so the shape of the wake changed, but we determined the speed range to get the best shot. I figured “well, I probably just need to hit the wake faster and tuck tighter so I can rotate quicker.” Looking back I don’t know if this trick was even possible, but I sure tried hard to squeeze every bit of rotation out of each attempt.
At the time, I had a video camera, and I had someone in the boat film so I could try to figure out how to get better. I could probably show you snapshots from 20+ failures when attempting the roll, but I found something I thought was more interesting. Like the post’s title says, it’s funny what a big difference a single second can make. I grabbed a couple of snapshots of one particular attempt.
In the left picture you can see me setting up for the jump. I’m trying to pick up as much speed as possible before hitting the wake. I’m zeroed in on what I’m trying to do. Just one second later, in the other picture, it’s perfectly obvious everything has completely fallen apart. There’s a crash landing in progress, and the board looks like it decided to travel in another direction than the one I did. Chalk this one up to failure.
In fact, chalk them all up to failure. I never landed that trick.
Now, I’m not saying I would’ve been able to crack the code on this trick if I’d had more time, but I’m saying a situation can look very different even if two different snapshots are only a second apart. Have you ever been in a situation where you found that to be the case?
Last summer I visited some family in Kentucky, and while we were there we took the opportunity to go visit the “Ark Encounter.” If you’re not familiar with this attraction, it’s a full-size replica of Noah’s ark, built to the specifications listed in the Bible.
There’s no getting around it…the thing is huge. I mean, it’s massive. One of the questions I had before showing up was “okay, yeah, Genesis lists the external dimensions of the ark, but it doesn’t say a whole lot about what the place looks like on the inside. What would it look like?”
Well I’ll be the first to admit that the replica’s designers took liberties with some of the things they displayed, but it was still interesting to see. This is one way it could have looked (though probably without water fountains, restrooms, and handicap-accessible decks). “Here’s how they could have stored this or that.” “Here’s how they could keep some of the bugs contained.” “This is one way they could have managed all the waste.” “During nice weather, they could have opened the roof like this.” They did present interesting ideas like “We usually imagine the animals on the ark to be full-grown adults, but since God’s pretty smart, He may have chosen to do something else, like bring adolescent or juvenile specimens to Noah’s doorstep. After all, a pair of 2-year-old elephants would take up a lot less room, eat a lot less food, and have time to produce a lot more offspring than a pair of 50-year-old elephants.” Hmmm, I never thought about that; that’s a good point.
One of the things I thought was most interesting was an explanation of Evolution after the flood. When we think of Darwin’s version of Evolution, the theory supposes that when an organism needs to gain some kind of function for the sake of survival, it simply adds to its DNA. Mutations occur, adding new combinations of DNA base pairs. When confronted with scientific reality, the chances of this happening in a single generation (“evolve or die”) are pretty remote. It’s much easier to look at a different type of mutation: deletion.
Instead of adding to our DNA, what if the different species on the ark were so genetically rich and diverse that they were all able to lose a great deal of their DNA to deletions over multiple generations and still lead to specialized species differentiation? After all, if all the humans on the planet, in all their vast genetic diversity, came from the same pair (Adam and Eve), those two progenitors must have possessed the DNA necessary for every genetic trait we can observe in present-day humans. The only difference between all the different people is the DNA that got dropped over the years.
That’s a fantastic amount of variety! After the flood humanity spread around the planet, but often clustered together into gene pools with similar traits. At the very general level, Asians looked like Asians, Europeans looked like Europeans, Africans looked like Africans, and so forth. It’s not that one race of people somehow evolves into another, it’s more like the physical appearance of these different groups have become more specialized over time through generation after generation of people that have offspring with people who are similar to them. Over time the genes become less diverse, not more diverse.
Things are different in the modern age. The original trunk of very diverse humans split into many smaller less-diverse trunks, but now the convenience of modern travel has made the world smaller, and it’s become much more common for people of mixed races to have children together. Though I’m sure it pales in comparison to what it looked like at the beginning, it’s injecting gene pools with big doses of genetic diversity.
Dogs are another example. If there were only two dogs on the ark, every breed of modern dog you see today came from that one pair. Chihuahuas, Schnauzers, Great Danes, Boxers, Hound Dogs, Pugs, Border Collies, and Teacup Poodles all came from the same ancestors, but breeders intentionally isolated particular genes to produce specialized types of canines, dropping the genes they’re not interested in. A mutt has more genetic diversity than a purebred dog does.
Regardless of whether an individual person has a lot of diversity or almost none in their DNA, they are our neighbor. They need to hear about Christ and His offer to pull us out of a future of eternal condemnation, and they need to hear about Him through you and I. If you’re talking to someone who doesn’t want anything to do with the Bible, though, stuff like this is one way you can point to the idea of Intelligent Design. Life didn’t just spontaneously spring into existence; someone put it here, and the Bible says how God did it.
Anyway, I thought that visit was interesting. God and science co-exist. I hope you can use stuff like this in your conversations with unsaved folks.
Ever hear of a sloppy, unrehearsed presentation trouncing a very polished one?
Over the past couple of weeks I’ve written about the urgency of our situation as Christ-followers. We’re not recommended…we’re commanded…to go out and make disciples of all nations. That can be tough. What’s that look like?
The most important thing is that we try. Making an honest attempt equates to obedience here, and obedience is one of the things God wants from us. Although a well-rehearsed, logical presentation of the Gospel is something to work toward, lack of a prepared version is not a good excuse for skipping the attempt. No matter how prepared you are for the pitch, you’re not the one who gets to decide if it penetrates the heart:
It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. –John 6:63
God can use a fumbling and bumbling version of a Gospel presentation just as much as He can use a highly stylized, well-practiced delivery. Jesus is pretty particular in reminding us about this. Later in the same chapter, Peter started speaking a little pretentiously, and implied that he and the “true disciples” had somehow acquired superior insight, and as a result of this insight, had decided to believe. Jesus was quick to correct him about who did the choosing:
Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.
Jesus answered them, “Did I not choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil?” He spoke of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, for it was he who would betray Him, being one of the twelve. –John 6:69-70
God expects us to obey, but He doesn’t expect us to be rock stars at evangelism. Picture a dad playing with his young kids and a ball. “Throw Daddy the ball!” All the kiddo has to do is get it close, and Daddy will make the catch and complete the play. Same thing here. Just obey, and get it close. If it’s part of His plan, God will take it from there.
This leads to an important point. Not everyone who hears the Gospel will respond to it, especially the first time they hear it. That means there needs to be more presentations of the Gospel than there are acceptances. That’s where you come in. You don’t have to be successful, you just need to be obedient. Obedience is your responsibility; outcome is God’s responsibility. He won’t be disappointed in you for obeying what He told you to do.
I understand it’s a scary thing, and we’ve been conditioned not to talk about God in the workplace. Let’s start small and you can grow from there. If you’re not going to go out and tell people about God, use the times He brings people to you. The next time a solicitor knocks on your door, guess what? They’re not going to complain to HR about you discussing God with them. They came to you. They’re on your turf. Just because they have something to offer you doesn’t mean it’s a one-way street. I guarantee what you have to offer them is far more valuable than what they’re offering you. Don’t pretend you’re not home.
Not sure what structure to follow? There are a ton out there, and some methods lend themselves to different personalities or levels of memorization. As long as you’re covering these three areas, you’re sharing the Gospel. 1. Why we must be saved. 2. How Jesus can save us. 3. What we must do to be saved.
The Pray and Say – More people than you’d think are open to having you pray for them. Try articulating the Gospel during a prayer with them.
The Roman Road – Using five different verses in the book of Romans, you walk folks through the need for Jesus. Think you can memorize five verses?
The 1-minute Gospel – Some people reject the Bible because it’s the Bible. No Bible verses required for this one.
The Billy Graham Method – It worked for millions of people, and is pretty simple.
The Five-Finger Method – Five fingers help you remember five points to make.
Ultimately, you’re the best judge of the method you should use…these are just some ideas to get you started and work with complete strangers. You’re welcome to use these, or any other method, on strangers, people you know casually, or people who are very important to you.
I encourage you to check out the link. We (Christians) are here for a reason, and the enemy doesn’t want you to follow through on it. Remind yourself that you don’t have to present the Gospel perfectly, you just need to present it, and it gives the Holy Spirit an opportunity to do some big stuff in a person’s life.
Lord, help me remember what’s truly important in this life and to be willing to follow through with what You’ve called me to do. When the time comes, give me the words to say, and may You be glorified through me. Amen.
Last week I talked about living “in the final minutes of the game.” If Satan knows he’s losing, and that the clock’s getting closer to zero, he’s going to pull out all the stops in his efforts to derail God’s plan. There are no rules of conduct he’ll voluntarily abide by.
Well God’s going to do what God’s going to do, and none of us know exactly what’s going to take place or His timeline for doing it. We know God wins, but we don’t know what the battles look like between now and then, or which of us are going to step into crucial roles in the fight.
I feel I need to drop some truth on my fellow Christ-followers here, and for some it may be uncomfortable. Here it is: If you are not living your life actively looking for ways to build God’s kingdom (either by bringing new souls to Christ or building up the faith and capabilities of those who are already His), you are living a life of disobedience.
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” –Matthew 28:19-20
This isn’t a verse that says “as long as you’re up for it,” or “once you get that job,” or “when life is going well for you.” This is not an optional aspect of Christianity, this is a command. Yes, if Jesus Christ is your Savior, you’ll spend eternity with Him in Heaven, but there’s a lot of joy you’re going to miss out on if you duck the Boss’s directive.
And we get to be part of countering those efforts. Thank you John MacArthur!
I recently spent most of the day accompanying someone to the hospital for a surgery. Time seems to pass slower when you’re sitting in a hospital waiting room. It gives you the opportunity to do a lot of people-watching, and if you’re paying attention, you get to see a lot. For some, this is a place of business; it’s where they earn their paycheck. For others, it’s a place to volunteer. For many others, it’s a place of uncertainty, of worry. I saw elderly couples gingerly walking around together, taking great care to navigate obstacles I think nothing about. If the Lord sees fit to allow me to live that long, that reality isn’t as far off into the future as I’d like it to be. If I want end my time on Earth having lived a life of impact for the Lord, I need to be pushing now, and the same is probably true for you.
I’ve written in the past about the parable of the talents (found in Matthew 25:14-30). A talent in this case is a measure of weight, so a talent of gold or a talent of silver is worth quite a bit. The master called three servants together and gave them different amounts of money, according to their abilities (5 talents, 2 talents, and 1 talent), and told them to grow the money while he went away on a journey. The first two servants worked hard and doubled the money they’d been entrusted with, while the third was lazy and only returned the original amount to the master.
We all have the opportunity to demonstrate growth in our Christian walks. Those who do well with 1 talent graduate to being entrusted with 2, and those who do well with 2 demonstrate their worthiness to be entrusted with more. I feel like this blog is my “2-talent act.” I’ve been reliably posting content here for over six and a half years. I feel like my “5-talent act” is the book series I’ve posted about before. That series is a little too much for me to handle right now, but I’m growing into it. Being faithful at smaller-talent acts will help prepare me for the bigger lift, and the same goes for you. It’s become glaringly apparent though, that if I want to complete that 5-talent act, it’s not something I can just wish and hope for; I’m going to have to make deliberate efforts to get it done. It’s going to cost me something…usually my time. I’m trying to build something that will still be making an impact long after I’m gone, but if I want it to really happen I have to get moving now. I’ve already been working on it for a few years, and even though I’ve started to accumulate a few sizable manuscripts, there’s still years’ worth of work to be done.
That’s why it’s important to remember, and keep in perspective, the brevity of life. It’s easy to brush aside the idea of committing to something big God’s called you to, because people of all ages can talk themselves out of it. If you’re a teenager, you figure you’ll have plenty of time for stuff like that later. In your early career you’re still focused on getting yourself established, or even just paying rent. Maybe you get in a serious relationship, maybe little footsteps follow behind not long after. Well then, since you’ve got a young family, you have other priorities. But then you get pulled into volunteering at school activities, and then you get caught up in the college search. Then all your kiddos leave the nest and it’s just you and your special someone, or maybe just you. But then you get a pink slip, or an unexpected diagnosis. You eventually make it through that, and at some point you become a grandparent. Retirement isn’t super far away, and maybe you take a big vacation once in awhile. You eventually retire, and then you have to figure out what that looks like for you. You do some fun things and spend some time with the grandkids, but before you know it you’re trying to decide if you want to retire in place, downsize, or move into a retirement community.
“Wow, that went fast.” Sometimes it seems like it’s over in a few blinks of an eye. “I guess there’s really no ‘good’ time to get to work on the stuff God assigned to me.” That’s part of the reason why He rewards the followers that make time for His work.
Not sure where to begin? Start small and grow from there. I bet your church needs help with child care (or some other ministry). Maybe you can think of a practical way to demonstrate love to someone who needs some help (both Believers and non-Believers). Is there someone you know who could use a little discipling?
It’s not too late. God has work for you to do. “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.” I’m sure we’ll celebrate together in Heaven, but don’t let a lifetime of disobedience pass you by.
I never really got into playing basketball, but I’ve played a few games here and there in my younger days. I was always pretty tall, so I got invited to jump into some pickup games. It turns out being tall was the only asset I really brought to the game. I couldn’t shoot. I didn’t understand coordinated plays. I was the goofy-looking lanky guy who could run around and set a pick, and I could rebound, but that was pretty much it.
What’s kind of funny is that regardless of whether I was on the winning or losing team, as the game began winding down, people on the losing team seemed like they started committing more fouls. Ever notice that? Maybe it was to try to stop the clock and catch their breath. Now and then it was because the guy they fouled wasn’t good at free throws. Most often though, it seemed like it was out of frustration with the increasingly clear notion they’d soon lose the game.
I don’t know what kind of timeline God’s working with, but it’s been nearly 2,000 years since Christ died on the cross. It’s been a few less decades than that since Christ said “Behold, I am coming soon” in the book of Revelation. We’re a lot nearer to the End Times than we used to be. Prophetically, there’s no event that needs to occur before the Lord raptures His saints. There’s nothing standing in the way. It could literally happen any hour now.
Our enemy, Satan, knows this, too. He doesn’t know how much time he’s got left, but he knows his time’s getting short and that when the clock runs out, he’s in for a world of hurt. He, too, is dealing with the increasingly clear notion he’ll soon lose.
What that means for us, though, is we’re going to get fouled more often. Satan’s always been sneaky, played dirty, and taken advantage of every opportunity, but that’s how you have to be if you’re trying to compete with someone who’s stronger than you. He can’t hope to compare with God, even if he can convince a percentage of people otherwise.
Between now and whenever the Lord pulls His team out of the game, look for those fouls to increase in frequency and to get more flagrant. Your sense of decency will be assaulted. Nothing will remain sacred. Innocents will be dragged into the fight. Hatred for Christians and Jews (but not other religious groups) will rise, and so will hatred for Christian and Jewish principles.
I say this not to scare you, but to help you anticipate the challenges we’ll be facing. Doing the Lord’s work will come with more conflict than in the past. At the same time, however, God will still equip you with what you need for following His calling. We’re not immune from harm, but we’re on the winning team. Step with boldness into the Lord’s assignment for you, and let the enemy forces rage.
Ever have someone explain a Bible verse to you in a way that makes you understand it better?
I recently heard someone talking about his teenage son’s hygiene habits, which were less than stellar.
“Son, don’t you think you should shower?”
“No Dad, I don’t need a shower.”
“Well son, you need to put on some deodorant.”
“No Dad, I don’t need deodorant.”
“Well you need to do something; what about cologne? Maybe you want to put some of that on.”
“No Dad, I don’t need cologne.”
“Son, what do you think about washing the car? Don’t you think that might be a good idea?”
“Dad, I’m not washing the car.”
But then, lo and behold, that boy found a young lady that caught his eye. All of a sudden he’s taking showers. He’s using deodorant. He’s putting on so much cologne it’s dangerous to strike a match anywhere near him. Now the car gets washed and waxed.
What changed? It wasn’t the world around him…it was the son’s outlook. The second half of Matthew 12:34 says “For the mouth speaks what overflows from the heart.” Another translation says “Your words show what is in your hearts.” It’s perfectly evident what happened in this kid’s heart. It wasn’t just his words, but his actions that showed what was on the inside.
Whatever your past contains, when you meet Jesus, your new desire to draw nearer to Him changes your outlook on life. Your heart’s perspective shifts away from the old stuff and toward something new.
If you’re already a Christ-follower, it’s your job to share Him with others. Even the people you’ve written off as “too far gone” can have a total change of heart upon meeting Him. If those people meet Christ, all the other aspects of their life start falling into place. The thing is, though, they need to hear about Him from you.
You don’t need to change their hearts; that will happen without you. It’s just your job to arrange the introduction.
Imagine you had a medical condition that affected not only your health, but your physical appearance. I’m talking obvious enough people can see from a distance you’ve got this condition. It affects multiple aspects of your life, even to the point people don’t want to get too close to you for fear of contracting the condition themselves. It doesn’t take long for people to associate you with the condition, seeing the two as synonymous.
Now imagine the condition vanishes. It’s just gone, no trace. People see you and begin to steer clear, but do double-takes as the two of you pass by one another. “Wait a minute, what happened?” They’ll motion toward you and lean in and whisper something to their companions. At some point someone’s going to approach you and ask what’s on everybody’s mind: what happened to you? How did something so wrong go away so fast?
In Mark chapter 1, we read a story about someone who took it a step further. Jesus healed a leper…someone whose condition was so bad he had to live in isolation from the healthy. Jesus told him afterwards “don’t tell anyone what happened here.” Was Jesus serious? The healed man couldn’t contain himself and went out and broadcast what had happened to anyone who would listen.
These events don’t seem quite right. Jesus had to know the guy wouldn’t be able to stay quiet on the matter, so why would He tell the guy not to tell anyone?
He told him not to spread the news because Christ knew it would sabotage His ministry to a degree. Rather than coming to hear what He was saying, crowds would instead gather to see miracles…people wanted to be entertained by a performer, not told to change their lifestyle and religious practices.
This brings up a question. If Jesus didn’t want His ministry to be undercut, why didn’t He simply avoid the leper or turn him away? It’s an interesting point to ponder, and I’d argue it’s because Christ was moved with compassion by a man who had strong faith in Him. How could the embodied Creator of the world turn away one of His creations, especially one who possessed full faith in Him when faith was so lacking in others?
Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of times God says “no,” even to His faithful followers. On this occasion, though, He was “moved with compassion” and chose to grant the man His petition. Unfortunately, after this event Jesus couldn’t even get close to the city without being mobbed, and His ministry in this spot had to adapt into something different. (Fortunately, the Lord was able to make due. Yes, he avoided the city, but people flocked to him from all over even when he wandered through desolate areas after this.)
Our God is the God of compassion. Approach Him in prayer with a humble heart and clean conscience, and make your petition known. You may just prompt the Lord of the universe to move with compassion.
40 Now a leper came to Him, imploring Him, kneeling down to Him and saying to Him, “If You are willing, You can make me clean.”
41 Then Jesus, moved with compassion, stretched out His hand and touched him, and said to him, “I am willing; be cleansed.” 42 As soon as He had spoken, immediately the leprosy left him, and he was cleansed. 43 And He strictly warned him and sent him away at once, 44 and said to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone; but go your way, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing those things which Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”
45 However, he went out and began to proclaim it freely, and to spread the matter, so that Jesus could no longer openly enter the city, but was outside in deserted places; and they came to Him from every direction.
Well, another school year has come and gone. More than any of his report cards or achievements in extracurricular activities that came this year, I’d like to celebrate one of my son’s accomplishments.
A middle school lunchroom is not a fun place to be. It’s bustling, it’s loud, and I probably picture a little bit of a prison chow hall when I think of one. One day this past school year, a kid sitting near my son started choking on his food. The obvious look of distress on his face gave it away. My son asked him if he was choking, and the kid nodded with wide open eyes.
“Stand up.” My son walked behind him and did the Heimlich once or twice, dislodging the problematic food chunk. The kid was able to breathe normally after that, thankfully. During the whole episode, which probably lasted 30 seconds or less, no teachers or lunch proctors noticed. My son said only about three or four kids in the immediate area realized what was going on and witnessed the event.
I’m not sure where he learned the Heimlich Maneuver, but I’m glad he did. Way to go, Pal! I’m proud of you!
Have you ever been in a setting where you assumed you were there for one reason, but in reality your presence ended up being pivotal for something different? Don’t make the mistake of thinking God can only do one thing at a time through you. God can use you, His beloved, to walk, chew gum, and do yo-yo tricks all at the same time.
You limit what God can accomplish through you when you restrict your willingness to do the different things He calls you to. If that’s something you’re doing, God’s not the limiting factor…you are.
I was NOT a good swimmer when I first began lifeguard training. I barely passed the swimming requirement to even get into the class.
Our instructor was very aware of this, and she knew we all needed to build swimming proficiency. Each time we gathered for class, we split our time between classroom instruction and water skills. Whenever we got in the water, our first task was to swim 25 lengths of the pool, about 500 yards.
If we met for class two or three times a week, this consistency helped build the right kind of muscle, develop comfort in the water, and improve technique. Before long, I got much better at swimming. Instead of just barely getting from wall to wall, my strokes began generating the power needed to propel myself through the water, rather than merely dragging myself through it. I wasn’t going to win any awards, but 500 yards stopped being an intimidating thing, and I grew in confidence that I could handle more than I thought I could.
The key to nurturing and developing a nascent talent is to continue nurturing and developing it. Consistency pays off. Sometimes building muscle is part of it, but more often it’s a repeated demonstration to yourself that things either 1. are, in fact, achievable, or 2. aren’t as impossible as you once thought. You have to train your mind to say “yes, I can wade into uncomfortable territory and come out of it stronger.”
You can apply this lens to both Christian and secular challenges:
Repeatedly venturing outside your comfort zone helps you become comfortable being uncomfortable.
Overcoming an intimidating obstacle means the next obstacle has to be bigger if it wants to generate the same level of fear in you.
Being faithful in the little things trains you to be faithful in the big things; if you can’t handle small responsibilities, why should you be trusted with big ones? Showing yourself worthy of the strengths and abilities God gives you for the sake of performing small tasks demonstrates you can handle greater responsibility.
Trusting in and relying on God during difficult times helps you trust in and rely on Him more deeply all the time.
Showing up and being consistent is important. Starting something difficult means you begin chipping away at it; if you keep at it, you’ll eventually do things you didn’t think were possible. On the other hand, looking at something difficult and deciding not to even try means your fight with it is over before it begins.
Will you rise to the challenge? Demonstrate consistency. It starts with showing up.
This time of year all the thunderstorms and tornado warnings remind me of a weather event I was happy to survive in my younger days.
After college I worked in the field of residential construction for about a year and a half. The company I worked for had a large free-standing garage/shed where it stored its work vehicles, extra equipment, etc. I’d usually drive my car to this place in the mornings and switch vehicles, trading my car for the company vehicle. It was this beat-up white van with a roof rack. It was the kind that only had windows in the driver and passenger doors, along with the windshield and windows in the back doors. The interior of the van had a whole bunch of shelves and hooks installed, with all kinds of equipment rolling or swinging around as we drove. There were only two actual seats inside, and whenever we had a third guy, he’d sit in the back on an upside-down 5-gallon bucket (affectionately called “the bucket seat”). The van kind of looked like something a stoner would drive in a Cheech and Chong movie, so one of the guys started calling it the “Cheeba Van” and the name stuck.
One time we wrapped up work at the jobsite for the day and started heading our separate ways. As I drove back to the garage the sky started turning pretty ominous, and got dark very quickly. Before I traveled very far, rain started pouring down in sheets. Traffic on the road slowed way down, and that familiar tone from the emergency broadcast system came on the radio. “Severe storms in the area, with the potential for tornadic activity.”
I kept driving, turning onto a smaller road I usually took to get back to the garage. It was still windy and pouring rain as I drove along, and I came across a tree that had fallen and blocked the road. Not really knowing what else to do, I backed up and turned around, then started using an alternate route to get where I wanted to go. Before long I came upon another tree blocking the road. It’s like these things were coming down so frequently, emergency services crews didn’t even know about them (and this was in the good old days before I had a cell phone to report them).
Running out of passable roads, I tried yet another route. I was driving very cautiously now, half expecting to encounter a third road-blocking obstacle. Happily, this road allowed me to get to the garage, and even though it was still raining pretty hard, I breathed a sigh of relief as I turned onto the gravel driveway to swap vehicles. I was thankful the garage was large enough for both vehicles to fit inside without having to come out in the rain. I got close to the building and hit the garage door opener…but nothing happened. Trying again, then again, it became obvious the power was out, and the door wouldn’t be opening anytime soon. Sitting there with pursed lips and the windshield wipers still on high, I pondered my next move. Looks like I was driving the Cheeba van home tonight. It didn’t look real great parked in the driveway.
I found out later a weak tornado had touched down in the area early in my route back to the garage. I missed the worst of it by a few minutes, but I dealt with some of the carnage on roads in nearby areas.
We don’t often think about it, but it’s kind of fun to see just how easily the Lord can funnel you in the direction He wants you to go. I was very familiar with the area; these were roads I traveled while riding a school bus, and I first learned how to drive on them. There were at least half a dozen ways to get to where I was trying to go. I don’t know that the Lord had a purpose for pushing me in certain directions (other than for this illustration, perhaps), but He said “Nope, I don’t want you to go that way.” “Now I want you over here.”
As God steers your life along and diverts you from your planned route in the process, it can be easy to focus on the inconvenience of having to be flexible. Sometimes the derailment is relatively minor and it’s not a big deal even an hour later; other times you have to mourn the loss of what you imagined the future would be like, and that’s an incredibly difficult thing. Though it might take a long time to accept, God always has been, and always will be, in control of the situation. He’s steering you toward His desired outcome, using your story for the eventuality He wants.
Lord, it can be a hard thing to accept that when Your will differs from mine, Yours always wins. Sometimes these differences aren’t a big deal, but others can feel soul-crushing. Help me have the right attitude through it all. Please give me patience, mental strength, and a humble heart as I work on accepting that You don’t need my permission to guide the events and circumstances of my life. Amen.
