Hasn't God Been Good?

This morning as I walked home from the bus stop, I thought back on God's faithfulness.  He was guiding, protecting, and providing for me even during times I was far from him.  The thought that I could possibly be who and where I was then to where I am now is absolutely incredible.  It is not that I have attained or am bragging in any sense, but rather am amazed and overcome by the way God moves and works.

While in high school, I applied and was accepted to attend Baylor University.  For whatever reason, I didn't even care to go.  When I look back I have no reasonable explanation why I didn't.  But what I do know is if I had gone to Baylor I would have not met my future wife Laura in Spanish class.  She was also for a season planning to go to UNLV, but she had a change of heart as well.  A year and a half after meeting we were married.  We have remained married almost 17 years and have been blessed with two sons.  I am very, very thankful I didn't go to Baylor!

After I was accepted into the Local 5 Union as a mechanical insulator, I applied myself in the classroom and the field and by God's grace managed to impress the teachers and fellow students alike.  Many people approached me and encouraged me to teach the apprentices.  Even the apprenticeship coordinator at the time was pleased with the idea.  But whenever I sought to look into obtaining the necessary accreditation, doors were slammed in my face.  Trying to move forward felt like I was headbutting a brick wall.  And then God spoke clearly, stating again something I began to realise in my heart:  "You will not teach insulators.  You will teach my people.  I have called you to be a pastor."

It became a repeating theme between Laura and myself that if God presented us with an open door, we would walk through it.  A door opened to join the staff of our church, Calvary Chapel El Cajon.  A year later I was ordained by our pastor and board.  If the story stopped there it would be crazy enough.  But God placed a call upon me to go serve and pastor in Australia, a place I had never been and knew very little about.  We have now been living in Australia for over 2 and a half years and more has happened than I could possibly convey.  He has joined us with a beautiful church filled with people who love God and us.  It is all God's doing, and it is marvelous in my eyes.

Looking back, it is as if God had me on a razor's edge:  one move to the left or right would have had a massive effect on my life now.  While I was unknowingly walking that line God knew where He was taking me.  To me it looked more like a dark forest with twists and turns of disappointments which led into rich green pastures of great delight and back again.  I could have never imagined how God would bring me to this point of my life in the supernatural way He has.  It fills me with gratefulness and appreciation that even now when I face trials, twists, and turns, He will bring me through them to His desired end.  Even as He has led and sustained me, He will continue.  In Christ we need not dwell in the past, but can rejoice in the present and our certain future - no matter how uncertain life may seem!  2 Samuel 7:21 says, "For Your word's sake, and according to Your own heart, You have done all these great things, to make Your servant know them."

Take a few moments today to think about what God has done and how He has brought you to the place you are now.  Can't you testify that God has been good to you all the way?  We have not always been faithful to Him, but He has remained true to us.  Following Christ is not easy, but when we look back on our travels we see how He expertly navigated us around unseen pitfalls, kept us fed, protected us night and day, provided comforts and rest, and brought us safely to where we are.  Hasn't the LORD been good to us?