The Unexpected

A few days ago, while having a casual conversation with my teenage daughter, she made a matter-of-fact statement. "I WILL live in this town forever," she said.  Hmmmmmmm.  It made me immediately think of my own "I WILL" statements over the years.  Most of the things I was very sure about in my earlier years have been unequivocally turned upside down in time.  My reply to my daughter was something like, "Be careful what you say you WILL do.  God has His own plans for you." 

Twenty years ago this month, my husband and I got engaged.  I remember sitting on the couch in my apartment after he proposed and being so full of dreams and love.  That very night we had talks about our future.  He casually mentioned that he assumed I would stay at home once we had children.  I sat back, confident in my own opinions, and said, "I won't be staying home!  I didn't work hard for two college degrees to stay home with our kids. I WILL be a working mom."  Ummm....  Little did I know, God would soon begin working on my heart.  Our first daughter was born six years later and I quickly began having stay-at-home desires.  When God blessed us with our son, two and a half years later, I realized that God was definitely changing my own plans to match His.  I remember my earlier, bold statements.  The night on the couch came flying back into my memory.  I would never have expected, twenty years later, to be a stay-at-home mother of three children - homeschooling, of all things.  Never.  These things were never in my realm of expectations.  Don't you know God has a good chuckle at us sometimes. 

There have been countless other times when I began so completely confident in my future that I arrogantly made claims or predictions.  Then, as God worked HIS perfect will, those things changed beyond recognition. 

In this past year alone, there have so many things that fall in the category of "unexpected."  A brother-in-law with cancer.  A dad with Parkinson's.  A mother having a major surgery.  A friend having twins.  A favorite baseball team winning the World Series.  A friend leaving behind alcoholism.  A high school classmate dying. 

Because I believe in the complete sovereignty of God, I know that none of this comes as a surprise to the Lord.  He not only allows it, He ordains it.  Some people wrestle with a "good" God allowing "bad" things.  That's not my biggest hang-up.  I tend to wrestle with what might be coming next.  I've had my comfortable rug pulled out from under me a few times.  Each time leaves me more certain that I am not certain of much.  The unexpected happens.  There's no way to predict what might happen next. 

A little over 2000 years ago, God's people were awaiting the coming Messiah.  He would be their King.  Prophets had foretold that One would come to save the people from their sins.  They longed for that day.  I'm pretty sure that when they thought of a King or a Savior, they didn't expect him to be born in a cattle stable.  They likely expected him to come from royalty and be born in the finest of places.  Perhaps they expected pomp and circumstance, not shepherds and barns.  That's JUST like the God of the universe.  The One who put the stars in place and aligned the galaxies had the capacity to bring His son into the world however He wanted.  And He decided to do it a way that is completely counter-intuitive to our human minds.  He is inexhaustible like that.  Oh, that I would want to serve anything but Him!  A God that keeps me guessing is One that keeps me serving Him because I have no doubt that He is in charge.  Life is adventurous and challenging.  It is difficult and wild. It brings us joy and brings us sorrow.  It is completely UNexpected. 

Our focus should not be on the certainties of what WILL happen, but on bringing glory to the God who is in charge of all things.  The shepherds and the wise men didn't focus on the fact that "this is not the way we expected it!"  Instead, they simply worshiped the baby that had come as King of Kings. 

My daughter may or may not live in this town all of her life.  Chances are, however, she will look back in twenty years and think, "I had no idea what God was up to with my life."  My prayer for her, and for myself, is that we savor the adventurous ride of serving such an unpredictable God.