God-Opened Doors

Some will see only coincidence.

We’re home. The tour’s over, except for some residual effects from the Skunk-Ape attack (click the link if you missed the story).

It’s time to reflect.

I think I learned from FLORIDA HOPE TOUR 2013. Over the next few days I’ll share what I observed, hoping you’ll find some application to your own journey.

If you followed the tour you know we didn’t pre-plan much of our speaking calendar. Of the 29 different times we shared the story, only 4-5 were confirmed when we left home. The rest developed as we traveled, often with only a day or two of advance notice.

A similar phenomenon occurred on the Mississippi River Ride in 2011, but the nature of the audiences was vastly different.

The majority of the 26 audiences in 2011 were church-based—congregations, Adult Sunday school classes, youth groups, and Christian schools. We talked about God to folks who knew the lingo and cheered for the guest speaker who told a story in a familiar, shared language.

In 2013 we definitely took the message outside church walls to drug rehab centers, mental treatment programs, halfway houses, and developmental disability groups. Some programs were faith-based, many weren’t, but audience members had a decidedly different approach to a guest speaker who wasn’t quite so obviously on the team.

The important thing to note is…we didn’t plan it that way. The pattern emerged as we progressed. God opened the doors, with help from persistent friends.

As I said in the opening sentence, some will see only coincidence. Here’s what I see.

In 2011 we needed lots of encouragement. We began with doubts and uncertainties about every aspect of the project, and we certainly weren’t sure how to tell our story or how it would be received. I believe God purposely opened opportunities that provided lots of support because He understood where we were in the process.

This time we tried hard to find church-based opportunities, but different doors opened. The audiences were tougher, sometimes a bit more reserved. I enjoyed meeting and speaking with these folks, but often—for a lot of understandable reasons—they weren’t as quick to offer feedback or over-the-top encouragement.

I believe God knew I was more prepared, more confident, more sure about the message. I believe He did what He always does—He gave me what I could handle.

I absolutely didn’t want it to develop as it did. On both tours I wanted the agenda all buttoned up, but for whatever reason that’s not what happened.

And…we left home anyway. I’m not going to lie—it wasn’t comfortable, and Becky would confirm that I did my share of or worrying and hand-wringing.

I don’t advise “not-planning” as a strategy. I do believe God had something to teach us with the way He orchestrated the events on these two tours. In the end the choice was trust or quit. I’m glad we didn’t quit.

I do think we often over-plan. We’re so obsessed with following our artificially pre-planned schedule that I wonder if we would notice an unexpected God-opened door.

Your thoughts?

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