When It Doesn't Make Sense

 

Gyms FINALLY opened again a few months ago, right ahead of the cold weather. MY gym, of course, closed permanently but I was able to join one of those SNAP fitness 24/7 places where you can get in via a swipe card=8 minutes from y house, barely anyone there at dark o'clock in the morning when I go, and will work in a pinch when I can't run due to rain, injury,. or weather...unless Governor Murphy closes them again...I pray every day this doesn't happen. 

While I'm on the elliptical I listen to podcast sermons by Tony Evans. He has become a favorite pastor of mine along with Joyce Meyer. Tony has a style I appreciate but he also digs deep...like, real deep. I often come home and take notes from his sermons so I can study the content later and remember what I've learned. One such sermon of late was one that impacted me but I wouldn't realize how the message would be used until later. 

He was discussing Moses and the burning bush. There are LOTS of little neat details I wrote down later to digest but the one thing I recall him pointing out was that when your circumstances don't make sense or become illogical, there's a good chance--if you're a believer--that God has indeed shown up. 

I thought about that...Jesus walked on water, rose from the dead, and brought Lazarus back to life, turned water into wine, healed a guy with leprosy, and fed 5,000 with a few loaves and fish. In the Old Testament, you have the Red Sea parting, an ax head floating, chariots of fire, and Balam's talking donkey. Craziness. Insanity!? Things that don't add up. 

Sometimes God will only get the glory DUE HIM when He works in extremes. How often do we miss praising or thanking Him for the mundane everyday things? Even though it's HE that provides it, sustains it, or withhold what we ask for that He doesn't want us to have? But when stuff just doesn't make sense? You can't do anything BUT give God the glory, at least if you're tuned in enough to know that He will often operate in extremes in order to get our attention and get the glory due Him. 

A few weeks before our 8th annual Sleep Out for Atlantic City I was a bit concerned about how we would do via an online platform due to COVID. Numbers were down and from our online sleep outs throughout the spring. Our event goal was $125,000. Hmmm. On my way to the office for a rare visit, I remember praying out loud for God to do something ridiculous with this sleep out SO THAT I could only point back to Him and give Him the glory, no matter how hard I or my team worked. 

Without going into detail, by the time the event started, we had raised $159,000. Ridiculous. As of today, we have raised $174,000, almost $25K OVER goal during a global pandemic. No sense. Not adding up. Craziness. 

True to my word, as my team was lauding me and our collective efforts the following week, I took a moment to "testify" and tell the story of the prayer, about how God shows up in extremes, and give Him the glory. I'm not sure what impact it had on the non-believers on our team, but I'm hoping it planted a seed...and perhaps it spoke to them a few days later when we had our Sleep Out Executive Edition and blew past our $800,000 event goal to raise $1.270,000 (yes, million). Glory to God all over.