Embrace The Unexpected Path

God must have a sense of humor.

Because years ago, if you had told me I would be doing this, I would never have believed you.

I had to do something this week that I never imagined in my wildest dreams that I would ever do.

But before I get into that, first, you need to know a little background about me.

I grew up with three brothers and no sisters. My house was all testosterone, all the time.

We spent the days playing ninjas, building forts, forging weapons, fighting, and driving our parents crazy.

As I grew older, I got into sports. I played anything with a ball.

I think something about growing up with so many brothers made me a bit competitive. I was driven to be the best.

So I was the gym rat in the high school weight room twice a day, pumping iron while listening to AC/DC.

I worked hard and became the captain of the football team.

I was that guy.

Fast forward to this week, and I am sitting on a little pink bed in a room filled with My Little Ponies (which, sadly, I can name all of), watching hours of YouTube videos about how to style my little girl’s hair into a ballet bun.

Normally my wife does this sort of thing, but she is a nurse and got called into work on dance night.

I was stuck alone, trying to figure out how to do this hairstyle that my daughter’s drill sergeant of a ballet teacher requires all the girls to have… or else!

My fat, clumsy fingers could not do it.

I snapped hair ties. I bent bobby pins. Hair was still sticking out every direction from my daughter’s head.

I couldn’t even figure out how to make a simple ponytail.

It was bad. Real bad.

Ten years ago, if you would have told me that this is how I would spend my evenings, I would have laughed at you.

Not me. Never.

This was not how I envisioned my life!

Has your life gone as planned?

I don’t know if you can relate to my struggle, but life doesn’t always go the way you would expect. Does it?

• Maybe you had a dream.
• Maybe you had plans.
• Maybe you were going to lead a successful church.
• Maybe you were going to change the world.
• Maybe you had a timeline of when it would all happen.

Most likely, the reality of how your life looks now is far different from that vision of how you thought your life was going to look.

After all, it’s often said that if you want to make God laugh, just tell Him your plans.

My life is not what I imagined it would be.

There have been times in the past where this upset me. God, why haven’t things worked out the way I dreamed?

Haven’t I worked hard enough? Haven’t I been faithful enough? Haven’t I paid my dues?

But I have come to realize that when God’s plans do not align with yours, you have two choices:

1. You can fight God, trying to control your path.
2. You can realize you never had control in the first place, and embrace the path God has set before you.

For every success I’ve had in ministry, I’ve had three or more failures.

I’ve had to lose a lot of fights until I learned to embrace God’s plan.

What about you?

Are you making the most of the situation God has given you?

When God throws you an unexpected twist, do you roll with it? Or do you fight it?

Maybe, just maybe, God has a reason for it.

Maybe, just maybe, this is all part His far greater plan.

Maybe, just maybe, your life was never supposed to be about you in the first place.

In your family or your ministry, things will not always go the way you would want them to. But lucky for you (and everyone else in the world) you were never in charge in the first place.

It’s not about you.

For me, this means embracing the twists that come with a life dedicated to ministry.

It means picking up my cross daily and living for Christ, not me (Luke 9:23).

It means letting go of my plans, and embracing God’s plans even when I don’t know where it will lead.

And it also means watching YouTube videos about ballet buns.

I never asked for this. This is not how I would have planned it. But I guarantee you this: my daughter will never forget that her Daddy, the worst hair stylist in history, loved her enough to try anyway.

And the people God leads me to will be glad I followed God to them instead of the path I thought I wanted.

So how would you fill in the blank? Years ago if you had told me I would be ___________, I would never have believed you.

What unexpected path has God set before you?