I Love It When I'm Wrong

I am blessed to serve as the missions pastor for the Church at Sandhurst.  I have had many missions experiences over the past 30 years.  I have also had many ideas pitched to me.  Normally I try not to react too much one way or the other as someone is laying out their plan or project.  I have heard some of the best and worst ideas.  I do my best to take my experiences and exposures into account and I always seek to be encouraging.  Sometimes though I know that my face and mannerisms betray me as I sit there somewhat stunned about how farfetched or ill planned an idea is. No matter how diplomatic I might make the effort to be, my mind is already made up as I have deemed it all impossible and I say to myself, no way,  No Way, NO WAY this will ever work.  But... I love it when I'm wrong.

This is a reminder for me and those that might choose to spend a few minutes reading a mission blog, please leave room for God in a plan.  The late Dr. Mike Barnett of Columbia International University and Seminary use to exclaim to us over and over about God sized vision.  Essentially, if we can figure it out, manufacture it and bring it about through our gifts and abilities alone, then it is indeed not God-sized vision.  My friend Randy years ago explained to me his plan to leave his music ministry to begin a medical mission organization.  No way that is going to happen I exclaimed to myself.  I was wrong (thankfully).  As a missionary from Germany applying for financial support from our church body laid out his ministry, I thought to myself how good it seemed but I could not connect the dots as to how it could possibly come about since so many applications were before it.  A few months later, God connected the dots in the most unlikely way.

There are times when we all are a bit like Elisha's servant in Dothan who saw the enemy (2 Kings 6), and then when Elisha prayed, his eyes were opened and he saw God's angels there to deliver them.  We need to pray, then look again.  Throughout Scripture, God is always pulling off the unlikely with the most improbable cast.

I'll be honest.  I'm probably always going to err on the side of preparation, pre-field prep, dotting the i's and crossing the t's.  It's good to have a solid missions' team and church leaders that care to do it right.  There is indeed wisdom in a multitude of counselors (Prov. 15:22).  But as we move forward at Church at Sandhurst (and wherever you fellowship), let's not leave God out of our plans or short-circuit vision.  There have been times when we have made the right call when we have had to say "no"... or "not now" to a project or plan.  Still, I'm glad to be wrong sometimes.