LPNI Devotion – April
2017
A Time of
Unexpected
Change
I am living in a time of unexpected
change. Aren’t we all? I found out several months ago
that the position I had held for quite some time would not be
funded for the full year. My initial reaction was
anger, then denial and a lot of fear. My more reasoned
response was to create options. I am aware that
“creating options” is one of my coping skills. It is a
way to take some control of events over which I have very little
control. I am questioning now if that has been the best
way for me to respond.
My Sabbatical last year focused on “Living
Well in the Third Chapter of Life”. I should have been
ready; I had done the homework. I love God’s sense of
humor. I approached my project as a way to help others
as they lived their “third chapter”. I may have even
thought that I might need that guidance at some far-off point in my
life. So now it is that “some far off point”.
It seems faith might say there is no need for
my creation of options. God already has a
plan. Does faith require that I just wait on God to
reveal it? How am I to live well in this Third Chapter of
Life? What are some good options for me?
Moses, Noah and St. Paul among others, as we
read in the Bible, didn’t have “following God” on their first list
of options for life. In fact, they all had other ideas,
and God’s plan worked for them and him despite their lack of faith
as we read in Exodus 2 and 3. God used these
unsuspecting men to accomplish his will. Will he do the same for
me?
Samuel was another person who saw God’s call
moving him in unexpected ways. First, his mother
surrenders him to Eli. Then, Samuel finds himself sleeping in
the temple. Next, Samuel hears the voice of God, though
he presumes it to be the voice of Eli. Finally, Samuel
relents, Speak Lord, for your servant is
listening. (1 Samuel 3:10)
God gives none of us a clear, preprinted
itinerary of our lives. I have let God know that
Options A, B or C are acceptable to me. However, I have
found that sometimes God has Option X on his
mind. While I never in my wildest imagination would
have dreamt that particular option for my life, in the past God
always has made Option X the perfect option for me to do his will.
Unexpected change and unexpected options bring
about both fear and excitement. Learning to live with
those seemingly opposite feelings is where we experience and really
live our faith. It feels very much like riding a roller
coaster at a carnival. I am calling the up and down
feelings of the experience of living my faith, “wheeeeee”!!!
Speak, Lord, for this servant
is listening.
Chaplain Rocky Mease, M.Div., M.A., B.C.C.
Derby, Kansas USA