You can’t always get what you want
The eminent philosopher, Mick Jagger, popularized the
concept in his song of the same title.
Though intended in a different way, those of us who serve the Lord
recognize this truth from a positive standpoint: the One who occupies the place
of Eternity is also the one who has promised to make our paths straight – if we
trust in Him, lean not on our own understanding and acknowledge him in our
paths.
Gulf Stream saw that in process this past weekend! We planned an event with Jean-Marc Princivil,
a church planter who works in Sherbrooke, Quebec. The design was to give
insights to French speakers, particularly among our Haitian pastors and
leaders, about how to reach across the racial and cultural bridges to share
with French Canadians when they are with us for the winter.
Unintentionally, the conference conflicted
with a state Haitian event, but did not compromise the most significant
leadership who would be impacted by our event.
Then, the Lord called Pastor Michel Rouzard home. The celebration of his life was planned right
over the top of this training and impacted a great number of people who had
hoped to attend our event. The event was
reduced significantly in number.
Have you ever noticed that God often limits the number of
His people when He wants to create something powerful? Gideon saw his forces reduced to 600 from
over 30,000. Only 3 of the 12
experienced the Mount of Transfiguration.
I believe that the Lord allowed reductions to create a very powerful
experience of interaction and fellowship that will guide future work among
French speakers. I look forward to
sharing some of these insights in coming days.
In the meantime, I will leave for the beach in just a few moments to
take the Princivil family to lunch. On their
behalf, let me thank you, Gulf Stream Baptists, for your generosity of finance and
spirit that have allowed us to bless this church planting family with wonderful
days out of the snow and onto Hollywood Beach.