Crazy Days

I am living through some crazy days right now. 

I am following God out of a pastoral ministry that God has blessed me with for the last 12 years. I'm following Him into a whole new thing, and some moments, my world feels like it’s turning upside down.

As I end my time as the Senior Pastor of a church that I love dearly and that dearly loves me, I'm walking into the unknown of starting a brand new ministry of writing and radio.

My passion is to help people to know in their bones that life with God is a radical adventure, and then to help people find the radical adventure that God has planned just for you.

This ministry is a part of my radical adventure and, as such, a certain passage of Scripture from the Book of Acts Chapter 16 is especially dear to me during this season. 

In the passage God has sent a man named Paul on a long trip that will change the course of world history as we know it. But Paul doesn't know that. In addition to everything else that Paul is, he's just a guy walking on foot across the entire country of modern day Turkey. And this is how it plays out in Acts Chapter 16 starting in verse 6:

“Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia. When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to. So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas. During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.”

I read that passage and, rather than getting lost in the barrage of unfamiliar places, I take great comfort in the fact that Paul clearly had no idea where he was supposed to go. And yet God knew exactly where He was guiding Paul the whole time.

Literally every direction Paul turns, God stops him from going there. 

So over a period of time that had to last several weeks or even months, Paul and his team eventually stumble across an entire country, always thinking they are headed to a place that they ultimately do not get to go. 

And during that entire time, they do not know how things are going to turn out.

They do not know that every direction they try to go, God is going to say no.

They do not know that they are eventually going to stumble exhausted into Troas, the last town in Turkey with nowhere else to walk because they have run into a huge body of water.

They do not know that from there God is finally going to give them a message of somewhat clear direction for the first time on their entire trip.

And they also do not know that God is going to inspire entire books of the Bible to be written to the churches they are starting in the towns to which He is guiding their steps.

They don't know any of that. All they know is that Jesus is the Savior and that they want the whole world to know it.

And for me, as a person who does not know a lot of things that I would like to know today, I take tremendous comfort from this passage of Scripture and the confident knowledge that God guides the steps of His people as we walk faithfully for Him.

So what about your steps today? Where are you walking these days, and why?

My hope for you (and for me) is that wherever we're walking today, we're walking faithfully. Because here is what I do know:

I know that If we're walking faithfully, God is going to guide us to the place He has for us, even if that place is not where we expected it to be.

And I know that if we are walking after things that are not from God, we're wasting our steps.

May God guide our steps as we walk with Him.