I Didn’t See That Coming
By Steve Williams
Mitchell County
During our lives, many things happen that we never saw coming. On Sept 9, 1989, I lived in Monroe NC, They were calling for Hurricane Hugo to hit the South Carolinas coast. I went to bed that night, not really thinking much about it because we lived over 150 miles away. The next morning I got up and it looked like a war zone from McClellanville SC to Gastonia NC. I never saw it coming. On March 12, 1993, Beverly and I were on our 15th wedding anniversary in Gatlinburg Tenn. It was flurrying just a little, and I asked the people at the motel if was supposed to snow. They told me not to worry about it. They had been calling for snow for days and nothing had happened yet. Well, the next morning I got up and it had snowed over 36 inches and kept snowing the next day. All I could see of my Honda Accord was the top of it and the antenna where the snow had drifted in the parking lot. It took us 3 extra days to make it home. I never saw it coming. On Sept 11, 2001, I was watching TV when two different planes flew into the Twin Towers in NY. No one saw that coming. On November 16, 2016, I took a group of senior adults to Gatlinburg Tenn. for a 2-day outing, and a wildfire broke out and burnt a big part of Gatlinburg down that night. I never saw that coming.
In the Bible, God used many different things in people’s lives that they didn’t see coming to make them stronger people. Like Moses, he lived like a king in Egypt then, then he spent 40 years in the desert tending to a bunch of sheep. Little did he know that this was getting him ready to lead a multitude of Israelites people out of Egypt to the Promise Land. Moses didn’t see it coming. I hate to say it but many of us are like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz. She dreamed there was someplace like “Over The Rainbow” where troubles would melt away like lollipops and gumdrops. She was sure that there was a trouble-free place that she could go. But on her way to that destiny, Dorothy encounters a whole lot of troubles; Evil Witches, a Scary Forest, Mean Flying Monkeys, and an Overbearing Wizard.
In the Christian Life, you can be sure that God has a Plan and a Purpose for our lives. And you can also be sure it is not always the shortest route or the easiest way to get there. See, all the challenges that we face in life are maturing us and equipping us for God’s big plan in our lives. Seldom does God take us from Point A to Z in life without causing us to stop at L, M, N, O, P, along the way. All our setbacks and detours in life are teaching us a very valuable lesson along the way. You say what is that? Let me illustrate it for you like this; When I was a little fellow my mom and dad bought me a punching bag and boy it was fun. You could take out a lot of frustration on it. I loved that punching bag, no matter how many times I knocked it down, it kept coming back up. I would hit it with a boom, it would hit the floor with a bang and then it was right back up. Over and over I would do that and it would just keep popping back up. The reason it did this is because there was a weight in the bottom of it, that was heavier than the air that was in the top. The foundation of the punching bag determined that it was going to come back up each time. I can guarantee you that somewhere down the line, some things are going to go boom in your life and you’re going to hit the ground with a bang. But if you’re on the right foundation you will come back up and be able to stand on your feet even when you don’t see it coming. That’s why we need to keep our spiritual foundation strong, so we will always rise back to our feet from the challenges that knock us down.
Pastor Steve Williams
Words of Wisdom:
- Life goes on and life is full of setbacks. You have to fight, that’s all. N/A
- Progress requires setbacks; the only sure way to avoid failure is not to try. N/A
- Mentally strong people overcome setbacks with confidence because adversity only makes them better. N/A
- Occasional setbacks are probably unavoidable – part of the struggle of living in a fallen world. Other setbacks are due to our own sins and failures, or circumstances outside our control. Tony Evens
Something to think about:
- Few Americans have had more setbacks than the Pilgrims who made seven times more graves than huts. They still set aside a day for giving thanks.
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Steve Williams is the pastor of Berry Chapel Baptist Church in Spruce Pine, North Carolina. You can read more good Christian news from Steve HERE.
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