Did you ever say: "We must be livin' right?"
It's usually in response to something good that happened - a table opened up just at the right time - the lights were all green as you drove through - the one hour security line at the San Francisco airport became the 5 minute walk to a 5 minute line because we were in just the right place at the right time! We've had a few things happen to us that have made me think: "We must be livin' right!" I'll share two.
1. I reserved a rental car through Priceline in my name, forgetting it was Stephanie who would need to pick it up. A late evening drop off by a fellow swim official ended up securing us a one class upgrade and GPS. Pretty nifty.
2. While in Medocino, CA heading to a deli for lunch, a local woman passed us and said: "Best lunch in Mendocino is at Lu's Kitchen, just at the end of this fence." WOW, was she right! We never would have found it without her help. Fresh produce from Kate's garden (Kate bought it from Lu last year), made into a delicious and reasonably priced quesadilla. Right place, right time.
Was it living right or just happenstance? Was it fate or chance or God's hand?
While playing racquetball there is, each day, a play or two that we don't know if it was good, short, long, or bounced twice. So we play it again. The person who wins the point will sometimes say: "Must have been good," referring to the "unknown" play earlier. Is that the way the world works? Do good things happen to good people and bad things happen to bad people? Not in my experience?
If I live right then will lights turn green, lines become shorter, upgrades be given and opportunities be offered? It would be nice to think so. If I keep my nose clean and do the right things, good things will come my way.
There is a certain truth to that. If I drive the speed limit I won't have to jump every time I see a cop on the highway. I just have to avoid the other idiots who don't know how fast they're going and so hit the brakes. That's a good thing. If I follow the rules, stay within the boundaries, then I have a better chance of scoring some points. That's a good thing. If I work hard, keep learning, am open to constructive criticism, then I'm going to be a healthier, more mature person. That's a good thing. If I don't try to make a fast buck, don't have an insatiable envy for things and simply save little by little, then in the end I'll have a nest egg on which to retire. That's a good thing.
I think those are some natural laws at work, not a quid pro quo life of good brings good.
But what about God's hand moving our lives? How much is He in control? How much of life is already predetermined, predestined in theological terms?
Psalm 139:16 "All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be."
That's some pretty good evidence of God's hand laying things out on a predetermined path.
Ephesians 1:11 "In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works our everything in conformity with the purpose of his will."
Is it the people who are predestined or the path of salvation that is predestined and unchanging? Where does free will come into it, if at all for you?
God will direct our lives as we choose to live within His boundaries. Making choices that go outside His will for our lives - His predestined path - will only bring hardship, at least in the end. I do believe that when we put Him first, seeking to live lives that honor the name of Jesus, that He will orchestrate some things because He can. Not because He loves me more at that point but rather I have made some choices to put my life into His hands. At that point He can do more with my life.
There might also be a recognition factor. I recognize His hand at work when I'm living with my heart fixed on Him. The surrendered heart is a thankful heart. It's in surrender that we recognize the smallest things as being blessings from the hand of God.
As we drove through the Anderson Valley of Mendocino County, California (a lesser known wine-making valley than Napa), a truck pulling a camper was leading the way. There were places to pull off, "turn outs" they are called, but the guy never took one. A young man behind us began honking, so I pulled over and let him go. He zoomed past then hit his brakes as he settled in behind the camper and I settled in behind him. Three cars, four, then six stacked up behind the camper on the winding 2-lane road.
We weren't in any hurry. The young man obviously was. Were we living right and he wasn't? Things were definitely not going the way he wanted. Perhaps he was late to work and needed to get moving - honking all the way. He was frustrated. We were enjoying the scenery. Was God blessing us and not the young man? Was he somehow not living within some boundaries established by God - maybe lacking some self-discipline to leave for work on time? The young man definitely did not feel blessed. From his actions he was probably saying: "I must not be living right today!"
What do you think? How are you living today? If things aren't going well, check God's boundaries - are you inside or outside? Are you living the kind of life that He can use and bless? Bad things do happen to good people but as those people bring honor to the name of Jesus, God turns those bad things into blessings.
By the way, we must have blown it sometime earlier. How do I know? I have to spend 90 more minutes in Cleveland waiting for our delayed flight to Dayton! Of all the places the Lord could have stranded me, it had to be Cleveland!! I wonder where we went wrong?!!
No comments:
Post a Comment