God seems to delight in changing our plans, then bringing special, fruitful moments through the different set of events that he intended to take place. My plans frequently fall apart. They often must change in a matter of moments. One matter of growth for me has been to learn to accept changes of plans with peaceful trust in God’s control, and to meet the opportunities before me with confidence and grace, believing that the Holy Spirit is in control of events, even when I’m forced to fly by the seat of my pants.

Last week as we made plans for Thursday club, plans kept changing right up to the last minute. The first message came on Tuesday: one volunteer wouldn’t make it this week. A simple adjustment to make a couple days ahead of time – no problem. Then on Thursday came a voicemail, a text, and a phone call: 4 more volunteers would be absent or late. (By no fault of their own, just unexpected schedule changes beyond their control.) Suddenly some last minute preparations for games and content fell on only two of us, as we braced for the onslaught of 20 + middle-schoolers.

But the Lord worked in special ways on this day – the first work took place inside of me. A year ago, a similar thing happened, and a lot of stress and nervousness built up within me until the last student walked out and I breathed a sigh of relief. This time, however, I saw how my faith had grown as I prayed, “Lord, I trust that you are changing our plans for a reason, that you are still in control, and you intend to bring fruit from what happens today.” The peace and trust inside of me, in contrast to a year before, evidenced growing faith.

And as I grew in my faith, 20 + students were called to take a step towards Christ and put their faith in him. As the two of us shared with the group the stories of how Jesus has changed our lives, they listened intently. They heard how Christ was able to help one person overcome self-mutilation, and another learn to replace bitterness with forgiveness and love. At the end, I offered a copy of the gospel of John to those who wanted to know more about Jesus and how he changes lives. The response was greater than I expected – I ran out of books, and several students walked out reminding me to bring a copy for them the next week. Would this club have looked different if our original plans had worked out? Yes. What was special about the way things went instead? Just that the Spirit was in control, growing my faith and calling students to faith. And he’s got a plan for this next week – it may not match up with mine, but I’ll hang on for the ride.

Nate Duriga – Woodbrook Campus Life