John Lennon is credited for the statement, “Life is what happens to you while you are making other plans.” The words ring truer with each day that I grow older and experience more of what life throws at me.
My recent trip to Moldova is an example of such a time when life went differently than I planned. It is a well-known fact among my friends and family that I am, well, shall we say, a bit of a control freak? I love to make plans, put them in outline form, distribute to anyone who has anything to do with me, and wait for life to unfold in orchestrated fashion.
We had a stated purpose for our recent trip: to take seven leaders from our church to observe some specific ministries that I was sure everyone would get excited about and come back to the US with resolve to support them. I wanted everyone to sense and feel everything that I had in my encounters with my brothers and sisters there. I wanted them to just love being hugged and squeezed by little old ladies with missing teeth and colorful bandanas. I wanted to orchestrate what the team members saw, experienced, felt and resolved.
It isn’t hard to imagine that God had other plans. Yes, we saw the same things, but God lit fires in our team members’ hearts for a whole range of ministries. He opened doors to meet with people that I never would have dreamed (much less planned) could happen.
One of our team members shared that she envisioned Moldova as a country outlined by a ring of fire, and soon the whole nation would be flaming with spiritual revival. I began to see our team as little sparks lighting many small fires of relationship, support, resolve and passion.
And it’s God’s fire-plan – not mine.
(Photo by Creativity+TimothyK, shared via Flickr)
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