Unexpected circumstances

God works in mysterious ways; In my last post, I mentioned a mission trip I was planning on going on, to the Philippines. Lenny & I held a fundraiser, and ended up with the exact dollar amount to get both of us there.

And then I fell off my bike.




The past few months, I set myself the goal of riding from Hurstbridge, in Melbourne's North East, to the CBD, and back again. A round trip of ~90kms. To do this, I enlisted the aid of the brilliant Jimmy Young, and gave ourselves 6 or so months to prepare.

In December of last year, Mark Fairweather, Jimmy, and myself set off in a trial run; ride into the city, and catch the train back again; a much less strenuous 40kms.

This was just a week or two after the fundraiser which had (I thought at the time) solidified the fact that God wanted me to go on mission to the Philippines, so I was naturally very excited, and was talking all about it to Jimmy and Mark (who was also on the mission team).

However excited I was though, God has His plan set out for me already, and so, about three quarters the way there, I went down a hill much too fast, got the speed wobbles, and came flying off. As ever, though, God was there. I flew off my bike, well away from the paved path, landed onto grass, not asphalt, and barely missed a tree.

Mark looked me over, and quickly realised that this was serious. My parents came and picked me up (from the carpark no more than ten meters away), and an x-ray confirmed: I had fractured my collar bone.

My GP felt this fracture was borderline needing surgery, and so booked me into a specialist for the next day. Fortunately the specialist believed that, while it was a serious fracture, it did not warrant surgery. Phew. The bad news though, was that, in his words, going to the Philippines in a little over two weeks would be "very risky", and inadvisable.

Bummer.

This was intense. The plans I had, and the plans I had thought God had for me, were suddenly pulled from beneath me. I was now forced to stay in Melbourne, say farewell to the team, and to my girlfriend.

Jeremiah 29:11 

Jeremiah chapter 29 is a letter written by Jeremiah to exiles taken to Babylon from Jerusalem. One of the most well known verses is 11: For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. While the letter is mostly about false prophets, verses 10 through 14 talk of God's plans for these exiles.


¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. ¹² Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. ¹³ You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.


These verses in particular really spoke to me. Verse 11 assures that God is in control, that He knows what he is doing (something that's all too hard to grasp sometimes). In particular, the lesser known verses 12 and 13 give purpose and something actionable. They remind me (and all of us), that God is right there, we just need to find Him. They remind us that our God isn't some distant being; who created and then stepped back. We can pray and He will hear us. We can seek Him and we will find Him.


And that is the most comforting thing of all.


God Bless.