Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Life's Surprises, God's Blessings.


Surprises enrich our lives, but since they are by definition unscheduled and unexpected we have to be available to slow down long enough to experience them as God’s gifts. A totally predictable life would be boring…too predictable.

In life, we may be so focused on an objective that we fail to enjoy God’s little surprises. Recently Pam and I have driven more than 3000 miles to places where I was speaking or coaching. Lot’s of hours together…with miles to our destination slowly being reduced hour after hour.

I have learned to allow our travels to be interrupted. I am an avid roadside sign reader. While traveling from Arkansas to Indiana, I kept seeing signs advertising a restaurant with “throwed rolls.” We decided to leave the interstate and try lunch at Lambert's Café where they hope you "…come hungry, leave full, and hopefully have a laugh or two!" When we pulled into their parking lot we were astounded. There in the middle of nowhere it looked like a thousand cars had determined the same lunch plans. The wait prevented our experiencing “throwed rolls” but returning from Indiana somewhere after St. Louis Missouri we once again succumbed to roadside invitations…off the road and into Blue Springs Café. Home of the “foot high pies.”

One of the words for surprise in the NT is also linked to the idea of hospitality. In Acts 28 Paul mentions the treatment of those shipwrecked on the island Malta by a man named Publius. The way he shared his home and provision with Paul and his shipmates was surprising.

Missional living requires our being available to God when He wants to surprise us with provision, beauty, and relationships. Slow down today…pull off your predetermined pathway…read the spiritual roadsigns…and enjoy God’s gifts…and perhaps a foot high pie is in your future!

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