"This day's been crazy, but everything's happened on schedule"
- Derek Webb, singer / songwriter for Caedmon's Call
I specifically remember a time in my life when the way I looked at the world and the God who created it changed completely. I was a senior in college, playing basketball for the school and about to start my final semester. It was an exciting time. One particular day was extra exciting because I had just picked my girlfriend of 1 year up from the airport who was moving from Texas to California so we could spend more time together. Hannah (now my wife) had found a job as a nanny just 5 minutes from where I lived and long distance dating was finally over!
Ironically, my mood that day as I picked her up was not pure excitement like I had pictured it in the days leading up to her arrival. I had lots on my mind and Hannah could tell so we drove to a park by the beach to take a walk. I began to tell Hannah of all the frustrations I was feeling with the basketball team and my whole transfer to the west coast not working out like I had expected. Just a few days earlier I had read Lamentations 3:37-38 and couldn't seem to shake these words from my head: "Who can speak and have it happen if the Lord has not decreed it. Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamities and good things come?" I shared these verses with Hannah as we sat down on a curb, overlooking the beach and the setting sun. I was in one of the most beautiful places on earth, with the most beautiful girl I've ever met and all I could do was cry.
I'm pretty sure I freaked Hannah out real bad that day. Our first day together in the same city didn't go anything like either of us predicted but I'm thankful she didn't give up on me then. The heavy heart and weight on my soul that I was feeling at the time came from the fact that I was realizing for the first time in my life that things wouldn't always go "good" in my life, and worst of all, that God had designed it that way.
For most of my life prior, I had tried with heroic human efforts to ensure that things went well. I studied hard, did the right things, ate healthy, exercised and when I did get sick, took medicine and my vitamins so that I could get better quick. I didn't like it when things weren't right. I never liked being injured, or worn out, or tired and I found myself constantly waiting for things to get better again so life could resume as normal. The strange thing was that before one thing could get completely better, something new always seemed to happen. Every time.
People often talk about how they want to rely on God more or be someone who lives by faith like the disciples did. They talk about how they need to read their bible more and be better about prayer but I'm not sure this is where relying on God really begins. Reading the bible will lead to more spiritual head knowledge which can give a person a false sense of spirituality but not true dependence on God. What I'm learning lately is that dependence often doesn't require a change in action as much as it does a change in perspective. You and I are dependent on God, utterly dependent in fact, the problem is that we just don't realize it. We quickly forget that at a moment's notice our heart could stop, we could be involved in an accident or receive a phone call that a loved one had died and there is absolutely nothing we can do about it. We are ultimately not in charge even though we often feel like we are.
Reliance on God begins by changing our perspective on life to acknowledge that God is ultimately in control and that both good and bad times are meant to be used for his glory and his kingdom. If we choose to only live for the 10% of life that we consider good, fun, or exciting then we are missing out on 90% of what he had for us.
Just today I asked a classmate up at school how he was doing and his response was telling. "I'm good man, just glad to not have a cold anymore." Isn't that the perspective most of us have on life?
This is why Derek's Webb lyric is so great. To us life seems out of control, bad and crazy but to our heavenly father, things are right on schedule. We can save ourselves the heartache of trying to avoid, get through or get over the hard times in life if we will instead embrace them and the fact that our God is incredibly good and using everything for his glory - which is what it's all about right?
I specifically remember a time in my life when the way I looked at the world and the God who created it changed completely. I was a senior in college, playing basketball for the school and about to start my final semester. It was an exciting time. One particular day was extra exciting because I had just picked my girlfriend of 1 year up from the airport who was moving from Texas to California so we could spend more time together. Hannah (now my wife) had found a job as a nanny just 5 minutes from where I lived and long distance dating was finally over!Ironically, my mood that day as I picked her up was not pure excitement like I had pictured it in the days leading up to her arrival. I had lots on my mind and Hannah could tell so we drove to a park by the beach to take a walk. I began to tell Hannah of all the frustrations I was feeling with the basketball team and my whole transfer to the west coast not working out like I had expected. Just a few days earlier I had read Lamentations 3:37-38 and couldn't seem to shake these words from my head: "Who can speak and have it happen if the Lord has not decreed it. Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamities and good things come?" I shared these verses with Hannah as we sat down on a curb, overlooking the beach and the setting sun. I was in one of the most beautiful places on earth, with the most beautiful girl I've ever met and all I could do was cry.
I'm pretty sure I freaked Hannah out real bad that day. Our first day together in the same city didn't go anything like either of us predicted but I'm thankful she didn't give up on me then. The heavy heart and weight on my soul that I was feeling at the time came from the fact that I was realizing for the first time in my life that things wouldn't always go "good" in my life, and worst of all, that God had designed it that way.
For most of my life prior, I had tried with heroic human efforts to ensure that things went well. I studied hard, did the right things, ate healthy, exercised and when I did get sick, took medicine and my vitamins so that I could get better quick. I didn't like it when things weren't right. I never liked being injured, or worn out, or tired and I found myself constantly waiting for things to get better again so life could resume as normal. The strange thing was that before one thing could get completely better, something new always seemed to happen. Every time.
People often talk about how they want to rely on God more or be someone who lives by faith like the disciples did. They talk about how they need to read their bible more and be better about prayer but I'm not sure this is where relying on God really begins. Reading the bible will lead to more spiritual head knowledge which can give a person a false sense of spirituality but not true dependence on God. What I'm learning lately is that dependence often doesn't require a change in action as much as it does a change in perspective. You and I are dependent on God, utterly dependent in fact, the problem is that we just don't realize it. We quickly forget that at a moment's notice our heart could stop, we could be involved in an accident or receive a phone call that a loved one had died and there is absolutely nothing we can do about it. We are ultimately not in charge even though we often feel like we are.
Reliance on God begins by changing our perspective on life to acknowledge that God is ultimately in control and that both good and bad times are meant to be used for his glory and his kingdom. If we choose to only live for the 10% of life that we consider good, fun, or exciting then we are missing out on 90% of what he had for us.
Just today I asked a classmate up at school how he was doing and his response was telling. "I'm good man, just glad to not have a cold anymore." Isn't that the perspective most of us have on life?
This is why Derek's Webb lyric is so great. To us life seems out of control, bad and crazy but to our heavenly father, things are right on schedule. We can save ourselves the heartache of trying to avoid, get through or get over the hard times in life if we will instead embrace them and the fact that our God is incredibly good and using everything for his glory - which is what it's all about right?
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