hmmm.....
I don't believe anything happens by accident. I do believe accidents happen, but usually they're caused by not paying attention or some other thing. If I don't see the car in front of me stopping and hit it, it was an accident caused by not paying attention or following too close, etc....
So accidents have causes and sometimes we have little divine appointments that are arranged for us.
I believe that, too. I see it often in my own life but sometimes those divine appointments don't lead where I think they will.
I read about that today. A guy my roommate follows on Facebook is one who is same-sex attracted and has renounced that lifestyle for one of following God. He's one that thinks, as do I, by the way, and most Christians, that those two things are mutually exclusive of each other. He was talking in a post I saw how he thought his ministry would be to the LGBT community but God had other ideas.
I think about that too. I thought I would be involved with some other things than I am but God reminded me that He needs people to mow the lawns, too. Ministry doesn't always look like what we want.
A for instance: My pastor and I thought we saw a door opening to minister to young men at the local pregnancy care center. That door didn't open for us, but the door that did was to lead a Bible study at the local rescue mission.
We've been blessed to participate in doing that for the last two years now. We've been talking about "Talking the Talk vs. Walking the Walk" and each week as I've prepared the lesson, I have either seen or heard something on the radio or social media for that week's topic. Yesterday I e-mailed the lesson to my pastor to photocopy and on my way to work, I heard a radio program on the topic of loving your enemy, which is tomorrow's topic.
God at work.
God is always at work. And whatever was on my heart this morning when I started typing this, well, it involves me walking the walk. I am. Talk without actions sometimes is just that.
Talk.
This study wasn't my idea. We opened up the topic we'd study next (or the book in the Bible) and someone came to me with this one privately. Sadly, the man that did is no longer part of the program, but the idea lives on and it's also living out in front of me.
Life is hard sometimes and sometimes it's hard to see God working in circumstances we don't understand. Like the man I mentioned above, what we want to do for God, or what we want God to do for us sometimes doesn't fit into HIS plans. Thus the proverb: "Man plans, God laughs." And sometimes it's easy for me to forget that. But I don't plan my days. God knows the path and directs the footsteps. Sometimes those footsteps lead into a bit of hardship or hurt. Not everything is going to go well.
Some friends of mine had a horrible experience on Sunday, but I also know that in that horrible experience God used tragedy to send a warning to them about their own struggles. The story is private; telling it isn't my place, but I see God working in the midst of that calamity.
Sometimes though I can't see the forest for the trees and was wanting to have a pity party. The closer I get to the finish line, the harder this last lap of this particular heat of my race seems to be. In the midst, though I feel and see God's hand in my life so I'm reminded that there is a set of hurdles in this particular heat. Most of the high hurdles have been cleared. It's not time to get tripped up over shoelaces or the short ones.
I'm reminded too today that I can't look back over my shoulder to see where the field is. Nor can I look left or right to see what's happening in lanes that aren't my own. Trying to turn my eyes from worthless things isn't always easy. Sometimes I wanna peek out of the corner of my eye and that's not a good idea. Even a quick head turn right now could be disastrous, so I'm trying to keep my focus UP!
So my point of today's post is this: not every direction we start out in is the one we need to keep going on, and if we don't pay attention to God's leading, bad things can happen. But even in the midst of that, God finds a way to work His will, to get us back on the right path, and to get us to the finish line. It doesn't absolve us of doing our part. Today, I'm remembering that it's not my plan, but His, and I'm surrendered to it.
Because when I started writing this for a minute, I think I'd lost my focus on that.
Blessings!
Dale
So accidents have causes and sometimes we have little divine appointments that are arranged for us.
I believe that, too. I see it often in my own life but sometimes those divine appointments don't lead where I think they will.
I read about that today. A guy my roommate follows on Facebook is one who is same-sex attracted and has renounced that lifestyle for one of following God. He's one that thinks, as do I, by the way, and most Christians, that those two things are mutually exclusive of each other. He was talking in a post I saw how he thought his ministry would be to the LGBT community but God had other ideas.
I think about that too. I thought I would be involved with some other things than I am but God reminded me that He needs people to mow the lawns, too. Ministry doesn't always look like what we want.
A for instance: My pastor and I thought we saw a door opening to minister to young men at the local pregnancy care center. That door didn't open for us, but the door that did was to lead a Bible study at the local rescue mission.
We've been blessed to participate in doing that for the last two years now. We've been talking about "Talking the Talk vs. Walking the Walk" and each week as I've prepared the lesson, I have either seen or heard something on the radio or social media for that week's topic. Yesterday I e-mailed the lesson to my pastor to photocopy and on my way to work, I heard a radio program on the topic of loving your enemy, which is tomorrow's topic.
God at work.
God is always at work. And whatever was on my heart this morning when I started typing this, well, it involves me walking the walk. I am. Talk without actions sometimes is just that.
Talk.
This study wasn't my idea. We opened up the topic we'd study next (or the book in the Bible) and someone came to me with this one privately. Sadly, the man that did is no longer part of the program, but the idea lives on and it's also living out in front of me.
Life is hard sometimes and sometimes it's hard to see God working in circumstances we don't understand. Like the man I mentioned above, what we want to do for God, or what we want God to do for us sometimes doesn't fit into HIS plans. Thus the proverb: "Man plans, God laughs." And sometimes it's easy for me to forget that. But I don't plan my days. God knows the path and directs the footsteps. Sometimes those footsteps lead into a bit of hardship or hurt. Not everything is going to go well.
Some friends of mine had a horrible experience on Sunday, but I also know that in that horrible experience God used tragedy to send a warning to them about their own struggles. The story is private; telling it isn't my place, but I see God working in the midst of that calamity.
Sometimes though I can't see the forest for the trees and was wanting to have a pity party. The closer I get to the finish line, the harder this last lap of this particular heat of my race seems to be. In the midst, though I feel and see God's hand in my life so I'm reminded that there is a set of hurdles in this particular heat. Most of the high hurdles have been cleared. It's not time to get tripped up over shoelaces or the short ones.
I'm reminded too today that I can't look back over my shoulder to see where the field is. Nor can I look left or right to see what's happening in lanes that aren't my own. Trying to turn my eyes from worthless things isn't always easy. Sometimes I wanna peek out of the corner of my eye and that's not a good idea. Even a quick head turn right now could be disastrous, so I'm trying to keep my focus UP!
So my point of today's post is this: not every direction we start out in is the one we need to keep going on, and if we don't pay attention to God's leading, bad things can happen. But even in the midst of that, God finds a way to work His will, to get us back on the right path, and to get us to the finish line. It doesn't absolve us of doing our part. Today, I'm remembering that it's not my plan, but His, and I'm surrendered to it.
Because when I started writing this for a minute, I think I'd lost my focus on that.
Blessings!
Dale
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