I Choose to Believe that Someone, other than me, is in Charge

What if Bobby, my brother, had not been developmentally disabled due to a birth accident, would we have moved to Norman where the University of Oklahoma had a special education class? Would I have met Dr. Hallock, Pastor of First Baptist Church? What if I had married my High School girl friend, would I have ever gone to OBU? What if Dr. Hallock had not taken me to OBU and introduced me to President Scales, would I have gone to Baylor as I was thinking? What if Judy had not invited me to the movie during ‘twirp’ (the woman is requested to pay) week, would I have courted and married her? Would there ever have been a Grant, our son? What if I had not been friends with Mike and gone to his wedding in Kentucky, would I have gone to Golden Gate Seminary as I was thinking? If I had not gone to Southern Seminary, would I have even known Dr. Oates and the field of Pastoral Care and Counseling, or would Judy have worked for him? Would I have ever worked for the Department of Child Welfare if Dr. Oates had not taken me to meet the Executive Director of the Kentucky Council of Churches about a Chaplain’s position. If I had never worked for the Department of Child Welfare, would we have lived in Lexington? If we had not lived in Lexington, would we have ever found the Trinity Baptist Church? If the Governor did not have plans to close the smaller facilities, would I have ever written a job description for Family Life Minister and asked our Pastor of Trinity Baptist Church to help me find a Church? If Dr. Oates had not recommended that I pursue a Doctor of Ministry degree at Lexington Theological Seminary, would I have ever pursued and earned that D.Min. degree? If one of the LTS professors had not asked me to become a practicum supervisor at LTS, would I have ever become the Chaplain and an Instructor at LTS? If Trinity’s Pastor had not died, would I have ever been a Pastor? If I had not read a newspaper article about spiritual direction and inquired about it, would I have even met and become friends with a Jesuit Priest? If I had not known that Priest, would I have even known about the Abbey of Gethsemane and become friends with several of their Monks? If I had not known that Jesuit Priest and the monks at the Abbey, would I have ever studied the field of spiritual formation? If I had not known a friend at Calvary Baptist Church, would they have ever telephoned me about the possibility of working with the Interfaith Counseling Center? If I had not met and become friends with the new President of BSK, would he have ever thought of me as an Adjunct Professor teaching Spiritual Formation at the new Baptist Seminary of Kentucky? If Judy had not known the youth minister at Wetumka, Oklahoma, would we have been asked by the Southern Baptist Foreign Mission Board to go to Yemen. If we had not been involved with Baptist missions, would we have been asked to become involved with CBF’s Member Care ministry with their Global Missions. I choose to believe that someone, other than me, is in charge and I call that someone, God.