BitterSweetLife

The way God saves people is unpredictable and inescapable and ridiculous. He uses circuses of events, seemingly random encounters, scraps of paper left on a bench, a piece of conversation overheard, aged preachers who convict with their presence.

Now and again we try to introduce sectors of rationality into this mad landscape of faith and God may or may not let us get away with this. We try to prepare ourselves for what comes next, but God throws open doors when we are still unready. We try to get educated, but God introduces us to desperate people who don't care if our favorite book of the Bible is Judges and we're still figuring out what sanctification means.

God uses people how he wants to. He saves people when he wants to. He uses the most non sequitur of means. So don't doubt him. Just learn all you can and dive into the work. He may use a sermon you labor over to save a hundred men. Or he may use your presence on a bus to convict and rescue a stranger you will never meet until doomsday.

Just understand that this life is a wild ride and we don't have a bird's eye view, but God is a sovereign, good, and smiling God. He has a love for justice, a passion for redemption, a superb sense of timing, a penchant for tangled story lines, and a glint in his eye.

So let go. There is little room in the kingdom for insistent control. Make plans, yes--but when God pulls a fast one and life spins you away, don't panic. Relax and feel the hidden rhythm of God's will and then go with it.