As we get closer to the final services as individual churches and the launch of The Vine, I find in my busyness, stress, and chaos, I am more open to see God working despite me getting in the way.
There are those times in your life where you know you are blessing others. Then those times when you are the one on the receiving end. God puts you in those places you are supposed to be when you need to be there...
It reminds me of a trip I took a few months back to Aunt Nena's Memorial service in Oklahoma. I just finished a great weekend with my beautiful wife and was heading to Oklahoma to meet my dad to drive home from the service.
It was a great weekend, but a less than desirable schedule. But in it all I found that God used it to bless me. First, I got to eat a great hot dog in Chicago's Midway Airport on my layover to Oklahoma city. Then on my next flight I met Amy.
You know sometimes when you sit next to someone on the plane you wonder what they are going to be like... Will they talk my ear off? Will I talk their ear off? Will they read or sleep? This was Southwest. Great airline, but you pick your own seat.
Unlike Carroll, I don't "read" people well. So I never know what to expect. Obviously we talked.
We talked about everything... I wasn't sure I wanted to talk to anyone. I had hoped to get some work done and have some quiet time. I think she may have felt the same way. She was stuck in DC due to weather for four extra days. Well I got what I needed, not what I thought I wanted.
Amy was a mother to a girl (10) and a boy (6). She couldn't wait to see them. I shared about my 4 and how amazing they are.
What came from our hour and a half together was a reminder that the things we do make us who we are. As we moved through the small talk and found out more about each other, the conversation naturally went to issues of life and faith.
Just like accountants don't want to talk about numbers all the time. Teachers don't want to talk about school all the time. Actors don't want to talk about their most recent roles all the time. Pastor's don't always want to be the one to pray at dinner, they don't want to answer every question people have about the bible, and they really don't know everything there is to know about bible issues.
I have to say this is one of those days I didn't mind. Amy taught me things about God through her faith and stories of her life. I hope she was also blessed by the conversations we had.
We talked about the book and soon to be released movie, "Heaven is For Real." We talked about heaven and hell, God's plan and control or lack there of, we talked about the devil, and the miracles we experience in life.
I can't put my finger on it. Not sure their was one thing that I was supposed to learn. But I know that in that moment, in the time, in the place I really wanted to be left alone. God was there! God was moving in me and through me despite my mood.
God moved me and used that time to renew and refresh even though it wasn't the way I felt I needed or wanted.
It tells me, that in what we are doing and will do as we consider our own life and faith and relationship with our faith communities, watch out! God may move in ways you never asked for. God may choose to show up in the places you say you will never go or in the things you say you will never do.
Never say never... God is there too.
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