In commercial airline travel, there are many flight options. Some flights are direct. Others connect through one or more cities on the way to their final destination. Sometimes flights are delayed or even cancelled.
Recently I was scheduled to speak at a church in Elmira, New York. I decided to arrive in Elmira a day early so that I would have plenty of time to prepare for my first service. I flew out of Dallas, Texas, and landed in Chicago for what was to be a short layover. After hours of delay, however, I was informed that my flight out of Chicago had been cancelled and that there were no flights heading anywhere near Elmira.
At this point I had a decision to make. I could take my shoe off and wave it threateningly at the airline staff while cussing, or I could find another way to my destination.
People ask me all the time, “How do I fulfill God’s calling on my life?” or, in other words, “How do I get to my destination?”
The answer is easy: cast all your cares upon God. Psalm 37:23 says, “The Lord directs the steps of the godly” (nlt). Our problem is that too often we attempt to lean on our own understanding instead of trusting in the Lord.
Don’t believe me? How many times have you prayed, pondered and begged God in order to figure out your calling in life? As human beings, our flesh nature wants to be in control. We don’t just want to know all the details of our lives, we crave to know them. Regardless of our desires, however, God doesn’t want us to crave our destiny. He wants us to crave Him.
When you were seven years old, did you ever guess that your life would pan out the way that it has? Have you made good decisions as well as some bad ones, and have you walked through things that seemed out of your control? You see, though, God planned for all those “unexpected” detours in your life. He is the One who gave you the freedom to make choices, whether good or bad. But thankfully, God also so carefully designed His plan for your life that He provided you more than one way to arrive at the destination He has in mind for you.
God wants you to trust Him, no matter where you are, because His perspective is bigger than yours! He wants you to arrive at your destination. But the journey you are on as you make your way there is forging you into the person you will need to be when you arrive at your stopping place.
So what did I do when I found myself stuck in Chicago? While everyone else started a small riot at the ticket counter, I calmly left, rented a car, drove seven hundred miles to Elmira and made it on time to the service. It wasn’t the way I had hoped to get to my destination, but God was faithful to get me where I needed to be as I committed myself to trust Him, one step at a time.
All the saints and angels in heaven rose on Friday, Oct. 25, 2013, when Pastor Harold Nichols arrived. Pastor Nichols, age 93, moved on to his heavenly home having fulfilled a life of service to God’s people and ministry of the uncompromised Word of God.
