“Great, a dead end. What a waste of time.” I grumble as I reverse the car and head back in the direction we just came from.
Although annoying in the moment, geographical dead ends do not compare to the proverbial “dead ends” we face in life. You know, when a decision you made months ago now seems like the wrong one, or a relationship you invested so much of yourself into ends abruptly, or a ministry you started slowly fizzles out. It’s so easy to look back and think, “What a waste.”
But is anything truly a waste if given to the Lord? Or, for that matter, is anything truly a “Dead end” in the life of a Christian?
In the bird’s eye view of my life, maybe it looks less like a maze - with trick pathways and lots of backtracks - and more like one continuous winding road. Maybe what looks now like the end of a path is actually just a sharp curve that we couldn’t see from yards away. Maybe life is more about the Sacred Pivots than the Dead Ends.
“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28
There’s a reason this is one of the most quoted verses in Christian circles. Does it feel like you’ve wasted time in your past? Are there days, years, you wish you could get back? Give Him your future, and He will use your past. Nothing is wasted in the hands of a sovereign God. What a comfort it is to know that no matter how bleak the road may look, God is the master architect who has intricately woven your story and has been with you every step.
“You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether. You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me….If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.” (From Psalm 139)
Jaime and I have had to ask ourselves, if Calvary 85 were to shut down in 2, 5, or 7 years, would all this be for naught? And the answer is absolutely not. All we can do is be obedient to where God is calling us TODAY. And if tomorrow that direction changes, we pray for the eyes to see it as a sacred pivot, knowing that everything that we’ve walked through up to that point was all for a divine purpose. In the words of the-often-wrong-but-occasionally-right Miley Cyrus, it’s not always about the destination, but it is “the climb,” and the story and work God does in and through us throughout the journey.
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