In the past 2 months in being home from the race I have heard my dad say these words at least twice…
“When our kids are young we pray that they grow up to follow the Lord then when they get older and want to travel to Bolivia for 2 months, or China for 2 months, or Hong Kong for 1 month, or 11 countries in 11 months and we think oh that’s not what I meant.”
But that’s exactly what my parents meant when they prayed for me and my siblings to follow the Lord. They prayed we would live lives that glorify the Lord and that we would follow him to do things that might seem crazy. I think you have to be a little crazy to follow the Lord because I think Jesus was a little crazy.
My decision to come to CGA didn’t make sense, not even to me. Within a matter of 3 weeks I had made the decision to leave Mississippi and move to Georgia to begin this leadership and discipleship program. In my head it didn’t make sense and that is how I knew it was right. The day after I decided to do CGA I was standing in worship and tears poured from my eyes and I had no idea why. I just knew that I felt a peace unlike any other and I felt more sure that CGA was my next step, even more sure than I felt when I went on the World Race last year.
I like to understand things and rationalize them in my head. But it’s not my responsibility to make sense of what the Lord asks me to do. I am to trust and say yes and amen.
Last week a man named Deon came to our class and spoke about the predictability of God. This is what he said, “The character of God is predictable, but when it comes to the way God does things he is totally unpredictable.”
God is always loving, gracious, righteous, kind, merciful, holy, but the way he asks us to do things and follow him is always changing. Often times whenever we are asked to do things that don’t make sense we talk ourselves out of faith. For most people God is only as big as they can think.
When it comes to the way WE do things, we are predictable and we stick to what is safe. When it comes to our character WE are totally unpredictable. No wonder the world hates “Christians.”
When we pray to God and ask for things we want things done a certain way because of past experience and what we know is safe. God’s answer isn’t always what we want. Sometimes this is his response, “you want to put your trust in my answer when I need you to put your trust in my character.”
So following the Lord goes against everything I know. I have to learn to trust what I don’t understand. I have to learn to trust the character of God because that I know is constant.
So I ask myself this question…Are you willing to be okay with His way even if you can’t make sense of it?
Yes and Amen.
We’re still doing the thing in Georgia.
Much love, Carson
