God Makes the Implausible Totally Possible

Things, stuff, garbage always happens that place a sense of urgency in your life.  Most of the time is has to do with something out of your control.  Things like tragedies, natural disasters, accidents, illness, disease and such.  When life altering life changing events happen, your perspective on life changes rapidly as well.  All of the sudden there is a sense of urgency, a desire to move and act quickly.  There is that "Oh wow! Now what do I do moment."  Huntington's Chorea disease was one of those things for our family. 

We were just trotting along in life and smelling the roses, when all of the sudden "BAM!" "Your family has Huntington's disease."  Now what are you going to do about it?  Our trotting along became a trap and our roses all became rotten.   This is not just a season or an event that will pass, it is now the rest of our lives. 

A sense of urgency is an understatement.  We wanted to scramble and act fast.  However, that was not possible.  There was absolutely nothing we could or can do about it. It is during this kind of crisis that you actually have two choices.  One is to surrender, suffer and let it takes its course.  The other is to fight like there is no tomorrow. 

We chose to fight.  By fighting, we surrendered our lives to Christ and gave the battle to Him.  In exchange, we were called to fulfill the great commission, reaching the world for Christ.  Reaching the world for Christ always starts in your own life and spreads from there. 

In the spring of 2007, an opportunity came up for a mission trip to Satu Mare, Romania.  My immediate reaction was this: "We can't afford it, there is no possible way."  Carri's initial reaction was, "I am going."  I was the doubter and Carri was the believer. 

While we were out jogging one morning, Carri abruptly stopped and said, "If money had nothing to do with this mission trip, would you go?"  "Of course I would go."  "Who do you feel should go?"  "You, me, and Mackenzie without a doubt should go."  "Then what is the problem?"  "I'll pray about it." "While you are praying about it, I'm going to sign us all up."

May of 2007, Carri, Kenzie (oldest daughter) and I went on our first foreign mission trip to Romania.  The cost was nearly $6,000.  The out of pocket expense for us never amounted to more than a couple hundred dollars.   God said go, we said yes, and He provided the means. 

We are so blessed that we chose to fight and not surrender to Huntington's disease.  God has taken us to places physically and spiritually that Huntington's disease would never have allowed.  What should be implausible, God has made totally possible. 

When God says go somewhere, do not doubt Him.  Why would He tell you to go if He really did not want you there to begin with? 

The picture is the yellow brick road in Satu' Mare, Romania.

Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;

May my life be the proof and evidence of Christ's love!

 

Shutting God Down, How Dare You

Years ago a good friend from college contacted me. He was on the board of directors for the local Christian radio station, KCMH radio. My name had apparently come up in a meeting as a candidate for becoming a board member. I was somewhat shocked; I never thought I would be considered for such an admirable position. I went to the next board meeting where I was officially nominated, and then unanimously elected to serve on the board.

My obligations were necessary but minimal to the radio station. The Board would meet once per month and go over budgets, projections, scheduling, programming, and other general business issues. It was a great opportunity and an honor to serve our local community in ensuring that our Christian radio station was meeting the needs of the community and that they were maintaining good stewardship of what God had given them. To this very day, KCMH is a top-notch local Christian radio station.

In November of every year, KCMH hosts an annual dinner. All the board members are invited along with all the sponsors. The first dinner I attended my wife and I sat by some friends of ours Larry and Pat. After dinner, Pat asked me "Bill, have you ever thought about going into children's or youth ministry?" Without hesitation I replied, "No not really, I don't see God using me that way."

After my quick response of "no", Carri gave me the look. You know the look your wife can give you that immediately sends the message, "you are in trouble, I am not happy with you." The one that sends chills of fear and trembling down your spine because you have no idea what you did wrong, but it must have been bad. The "you are goanna sleep in the doghouse look ", that is the look I got.

In the car on the way home from the annual meeting, Carri did not say a word for several minutes. Then I just had to ask, "What did I do, I didn't do anything wrong." "Oh really, nothing wrong, is that what you think?" "Yea, that is what I know, not think." Then Carri said, "Let me tell you what I know. You shut God down, why would you shut God down?" I asked, "How did I shut God down?" Then Carri said this, "by immediately saying no to God using you in ministry. Maybe God wants to use you in ministry. You could have said, If God calls me then yes, I would. But you did not and instead you just simply shut it down and said no." In a half mad and half-encouraging voice Carri then said, "Bill, you have a voice. You have a story that God wants to use and people need to hear it. If God calls you to ministry, you better do it."

This was not the first time I had shut God down. A couple years earlier, I did it at church camp. I was the group leader for our church. I had been leading our kids with bible study, and church group times throughout the week. One of our older saints, Mrs. Ramona was helping us that week. Mrs. Ramona said this to me one day, "Bill, you are really good with these kids, have you ever thought about going into children's or youth ministry?" I am sure my answer was the same as it was at the dinner, "No, I don’t see God using me that way." Whatever I said, I know it was a "no."

Why did I always shut down the idea of God using me in ministry? Because I believed, I was not good enough. In my mind, if God was going to use you it is because you were qualified and good enough. Boy was I wrong.


The picture is me ministering to some kids in St. Louis Missouri during an MFUGE mission trip with a group of our Youth


I Corinthians I:27-29 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28 He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things--and the things that are not--to nullify the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him.

May my life be the proof and evidence of Christ's love!