The Gift Of The Unexpected
I had met up with my friends who are visiting Alaska, and we planned to do a certain activity that day. After that, we had no plan. I drove to the Wildlife Conservation Center for a picnic with the friends and to get some Alaskan animal observation underway. The somewhat gray and dreary day didn't dampen our spirits or our determination to make this a fun day. But the fact that there was no plan for the rest of the day made me a little uncomfortable...because I like having plans. I hate surprises. I take security in schedules. But once we were finished at the wildlife center, we didn't know where we were headed next. But where we ended up was seriously the last place on earth I would've chosen or guessed we'd go...
We ended up so far off the beaten path there was hardly any path. But there we were...out in the wilderness in pursuit of a glimpse of the glacier. We weren't even sure if the cloudy day would let us see the glacier at all, let alone clearly. But they wanted to try. So I went along.
If we don't give adventure a chance... if we don't at least try once in awhile to step off the common route and blaze our own route, how we will ever discover the spontaneity with which God does things in this world? How will we learn that life is a discovery of all things unknown becoming understood in their time?
The rain poured down, and my boots sloshed through the rocky trail that had turned into almost a riverbed in itself. I could feel the cold water coming in through the mesh of my shoes and soaking my socks. Sweat from the hike combined with the raindrops to form a rapidly-growing dampness in clothes. I had to shake my head and smile...because I hadn't planned to be here...at all.
And how often do we find ourselves in wilderness places we never intend to go to! How often do we feel as though we sort of lost control of our lives and we've ended up on some off-road trail that we're not really sure why we're there in the first place or where we're going to end up or how long it will take us to get there... often under adverse circumstances!
Maybe this is God's way of showing us that this world... HIS world... is bigger than us and that His plans are bigger too, and perhaps we just need to chill out a little and have some fun along the way? Along a way that we don't know but He does.
My lungs heaved as I tried to breathe and pull the hills up through the valley. The legs were heavy as I forced them into a workout they were not prepared for. Scaling boulders, pushing ahead with only the promise of a possible view at the top were all that kept me putting one foot in front of the other. Nearing the top, I could hear one of the friends ahead of me call out, "It's worth it up here! You're almost up!"
And isn't that the essence of the Christian life? That all we have to give us faith and hope in the weary way is a promise of what awaits us at the end? And the voices of saints ahead telling us that this pain, this struggle, this fight is worth it! Telling us to keep looking up, to keep hoping.
As I crested the hill, I could just make out the outline of the glacier. The clouds hung so low that I could hardly see it at all. But even the wet and somewhat inconvenient weather lended a strange storm of beauty to everything. Even though the mountains were obscured and the valley was filled with fog and looked kind of like a glorified rainforest, the creation still spoke of a heavenly quality, of a Maker who has permitted seasons, weather patters, and the flow of our lives.
And it occurred to me that the best things He has are often shrouded in mystery, and all we have to go on is trust that it will be shown to us in time. And while we learn to wait on His revealing, we are taught to look around and behold the still-present grace. We are shown that miracles are everywhere, even when they are hard to see. God is forever calling us to behold Him, even in the lonely places.
On the way back, the chorus to a newly-released Hawk Nelson worship song began to ring in my mind:
We ended up so far off the beaten path there was hardly any path. But there we were...out in the wilderness in pursuit of a glimpse of the glacier. We weren't even sure if the cloudy day would let us see the glacier at all, let alone clearly. But they wanted to try. So I went along.
If we don't give adventure a chance... if we don't at least try once in awhile to step off the common route and blaze our own route, how we will ever discover the spontaneity with which God does things in this world? How will we learn that life is a discovery of all things unknown becoming understood in their time?
The rain poured down, and my boots sloshed through the rocky trail that had turned into almost a riverbed in itself. I could feel the cold water coming in through the mesh of my shoes and soaking my socks. Sweat from the hike combined with the raindrops to form a rapidly-growing dampness in clothes. I had to shake my head and smile...because I hadn't planned to be here...at all.
And how often do we find ourselves in wilderness places we never intend to go to! How often do we feel as though we sort of lost control of our lives and we've ended up on some off-road trail that we're not really sure why we're there in the first place or where we're going to end up or how long it will take us to get there... often under adverse circumstances!
Maybe this is God's way of showing us that this world... HIS world... is bigger than us and that His plans are bigger too, and perhaps we just need to chill out a little and have some fun along the way? Along a way that we don't know but He does.
My lungs heaved as I tried to breathe and pull the hills up through the valley. The legs were heavy as I forced them into a workout they were not prepared for. Scaling boulders, pushing ahead with only the promise of a possible view at the top were all that kept me putting one foot in front of the other. Nearing the top, I could hear one of the friends ahead of me call out, "It's worth it up here! You're almost up!"
And isn't that the essence of the Christian life? That all we have to give us faith and hope in the weary way is a promise of what awaits us at the end? And the voices of saints ahead telling us that this pain, this struggle, this fight is worth it! Telling us to keep looking up, to keep hoping.
As I crested the hill, I could just make out the outline of the glacier. The clouds hung so low that I could hardly see it at all. But even the wet and somewhat inconvenient weather lended a strange storm of beauty to everything. Even though the mountains were obscured and the valley was filled with fog and looked kind of like a glorified rainforest, the creation still spoke of a heavenly quality, of a Maker who has permitted seasons, weather patters, and the flow of our lives.
And it occurred to me that the best things He has are often shrouded in mystery, and all we have to go on is trust that it will be shown to us in time. And while we learn to wait on His revealing, we are taught to look around and behold the still-present grace. We are shown that miracles are everywhere, even when they are hard to see. God is forever calling us to behold Him, even in the lonely places.
On the way back, the chorus to a newly-released Hawk Nelson worship song began to ring in my mind:
"Your goodness is following me,
Your mercy is my covering,
Your love is holding my life,
It never runs dry, never runs dry."
I laughed at the irony that I would be singing a song about something "never running dry" as the rain poured down and now every part of me was wet. But I discovered a bigger truth in that moment - that God isn't always about keeping us in the predictable. In fact, He often allows great challenges and unexpected things to happen to get us out of the comfortable and into the places where we'll experience the vastness of His power, the security of His love, and the discovery of His grace. As believers, we know that His goodness, mercy, and love are with us always. But sometimes we need to be reminded of it in a personal way - an unexpected way. And this too is a gift.
I crawled back into my car as my friends got into their rental car, and we all said a damp but meaningful goodbye. On the drive home as I put the car heater on full blast and munched on a bag of chips, somehow I was grateful that I had done something un-planned. Something that gave adventure a chance and said, "I have all the time there is and I intend to do something spontaneous today." I began to realize that we would experience so many incredible things in this great world God has made if we would just launch out without any agenda or expectations other than to discover God in a deeper way.
And just maybe this is all that He asks of me as I continue to "do life" with the Savior I love - that I would keep laying aside my own plans in pursuit of His, even as my control-freak self fights this surrender. And just perhaps my greatest life is found in the laying down of my desires for the sake of the One who rules the world yet at the same time invites me to come be part of His glorious purposes.
So... if this is indeed true (and it is!), let's go live this God-adventure to the fullest and spur each other onward with the hope that the promise is faithful and the end is worth it! A few more steps forward and all will soon be made clear.
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