We can make our plans, but the LORD determines our steps. (Prov. 16:9, NLT)

In late 2015, I was in a discouraged place. God was providing for every financial need our family had, yet he seemed bent on frustrating MY plans.

I had been in the process of trying to transfer my credentials to the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC) and had been in close conversation with a church in Sartell, MN. My wife, Pam, and I had just flown there and spent a weekend with these dear folks only to return and learn a week later that they had decided to go with another candidate. This news was difficult. Although we hadn’t wanted to move that far away from our children, it had seemed that God was in the details. Additionally, I had really connected with the 6’5” chair of the pastoral search committee, Tod Paulson.

But life goes on and so in late January 2016, in order to survive in southern NJ, I started my carpentry business back up, applied for an LLC, and bought a brand-new Nissan NV High Roof Cargo Van. I had plenty of work but what I really wanted to do was serve the church again full-time. Although I didn’t understand what God was doing, I began to lift my head and look to him again in faith (Joshua 5:13a).

In March of the same year, Pam and I flew to DeBary, FL, 45 minutes outside of Orlando, to spend the weekend with my mom for her birthday. That Sunday, we went to her little EPC church called River City. While worshipping, suddenly, Pam tapped my arm, leaned over, and whispered, “Isn’t that Tod Paulson?!” Slowly processing what she said, I looked over and sure enough he was there, right across the aisle to my right, with his wife, Linda. You couldn’t miss his 6’5” frame! Pam and I looked at each other incredulously, thinking what are chances of the chair of the search committee of the church we almost went to in MN being in Debary, FL on the same Sunday that Greg and Pam Austen from NJ were there?!! After worship, we approached him, gave he and his wife a big hug and rejoiced in this unexpected providence. We learned they had a son in Jacksonville and their whole family was in Orlando for spring break.

What made it seem even more like a divine moment, however, was that they had been on their way to a large EPC church in Orlando but, due to bad traffic and running late, they decided to modify their plan and come to this little church instead. All that God intended by this “chance” encounter is a longer story; however, suffice it to say now that it brought encouragement to all, a letter of endorsement that opened new doors later, and some excellent feedback that led to unexpected reconciliation with a brother-in-law.

Yeah, that’s right. Wow. God’s priorities are certainly not ours, and the older I get the more I’ve come to see that his ways come at a certain time and will look familiar.

They will come at a certain time:

• Psalm 1:3 says that the godly are “like a tree planted by the streams of water that yields its fruit in its season.”
• God has fixed times and seasons for things that we know little of. Jesus told his disciples just before his ascension: “It is not for you to know the times or seasons that God has fixed by his own authority.” (Acts 1:7)
• That’s why the phrase “waiting on God” is so huge in Scripture.

They will look familiar. I’m not talking here about the specific details of the new situation or circumstance.  They may be quite unique and unexpected.  I’m talking about how it happens:

• He will humble us by having things turn out successfully that weren’t our plans, nor were they close to anything we would have thought of (Psa. 115:3). Since the story above, we’ve moved from Millville, NJ to Swedesboro, NJ and then, two years later, to Pitman, NJ. Who’da thunk?!
• He will test our hearts. In considering the possibility of pastoral ministry in Sartell, MN, God asked, “Are you available?” The answer was yes, we were, even though in the end that wasn’t what he wanted.
• He will purify our hearts. It’s a story for another day but the feedback I got from Tod and the Riverside Evangelical Church search team (yes, another church with River in its name but they literally are on the Mississippi River!) led to healing in a family relationship. I was focused on geography—where God wanted me—and he was focused on eradicating unforgiveness and making me more like Christ (Rom. 8:28-29).
• His plan will prove to be better in the end. I may have had my head down in early November 2015 when I found out we weren’t going to MN, but later that month and at subsequent Thanksgivings, I thanked him for his mercy. It’s a rare gift to live close enough to your children and grandchildren to gather easily for the holidays.  

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isa. 55:8-9, ESV)