Originally posted January 14, 2007:
On a Friday evening in early December I had the privilege of speaking at a Christmas event at a church on California’s beautiful central coast. I spent the night in the area and headed home fairly early Saturday morning. I contemplated taking the more scenic coastal route, but since I was drained from the night’s ministry and had many chores waiting for me, I decided to take the most direct and least congested route home.
That’s what I decided. “A man’s heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.” As I headed home, I missed a turn. Then another road that should have taken me where I needed to go was blocked and I found myself in the middle of a detour. It seemed like I was going in circles until I made one final turn that led me right up to the on-ramp for the south bound 101—the coastal route home. I thought to myself, Well, at least I’ll know where I am if I take this route! So I did.
It wasn’t long before I realized my little detour was no accident. I love the ocean. It centers me. When I first began regularly speaking and ministering publicly, I would I often escape to the beach the next day to “debrief” with the Lord. There is something about the ocean that immediately draws me into His presence. It seems that when I watch the waves crash onto the shore, waves of His love wash over my very being and revive my soul. This day was no exception.
I pulled off onto a little lookout point in Pismo Beach and marveled at the stunning beauty of His creation. The view was breathtaking. It had rained the night before and there were still several dark clouds in the sky, but they couldn’t hold back the brightness of the sun. Rays of light shot through the clouds and were reflected on the ocean’s surface. As the waves crashed on the rocks below, it was as if the ocean itself was performing an exuberant dance of praise to its Maker. All I could do was watch and weep at the sheer beauty of who He is and what He has made.
Finally, I knew I needed to get back on the road. I started back toward my car, but was prompted to turn around for one more look. As I did, the view was the most exquisite of the day. As I took it in, it seemed the Lord whispered to my heart, I painted that picture just for you. In fact, I would have put that whole ocean out there just for you.
I knew it was true. There is absolutely no limit to the good things God will bestow upon those who love Him. He delights in giving good gifts to His children, just as we delight in giving good gifts to ours. Slowly, over time, I have learned to receive the gifts God wants to give me. In fact, sometimes I even ask for more!
And that’s just what I did. I took in the beauty that was before me. From my heart, I thanked Him. But then I also asked Him for something else. Lord, it’s been a long time since You’ve painted a sunset for me. Would You do that for me again soon, please?
Jesus and I have a history with sunsets. When the Lord began to awaken my heart to the reality of His love, I happened to work in an area that gave me a wonderful view of the spectacular west coast skyline. On my way home, I would gaze upon His handiwork in the evening sky as He captured my heart over and over again by telling me that He designed each unique sunset just for me. This went on for quite some time, but as the months, then years, went by, I didn’t think to look quite so often. Later still, I moved away and didn’t often have such an obvious reminder of God’s extravagant love displayed right before my eyes. Every now and again, though, I would remember those times and I’d ask Him to “paint” another sunset just for me. Occasionally He would gently remind me that I had missed more than a few because I had simply forgotten to look, but more often than not He would graciously nudge me at just the right time and in just the right place, and once again I would be face to face with another incredible demonstration of His glory.
On this particular day when I asked, I immediately sensed His Spirit saying, I’ll do it today! But I quickly dismissed the thought. It was still morning and I expected to be home no later than early afternoon. I had lots to do and didn’t plan to go out again that day. Since you can’t see the sunset from my house, I assumed it was just a stray thought and figured the Lord would answer me another way on some other day.
I got back on the road and everything appeared to be on schedule for a while. The traffic was light, the view was great, it was a glorious day and I felt like I was just along for the ride. But then things changed. Traffic slowed down. Just a bit at first, but then it became a torturous crawl. After what seemed like hours, I finally came to a junction where I was able to change course and I started moving again. As I did, I realized I would be traveling right by some places that would be practical for me run some unscheduled errands. With all the changes in plans, the day wore on and by the time I was finally nearing home, the glimpse of His beauty I’d seen earlier in the day had become a distant memory. Instead, I was just plain tired. So tired, in fact, that I wasn’t paying much attention and missed the turnoff onto the final freeway that would have taken me home.
As soon as I realized what I had done, I started to get frustrated. I was so weary at this point that I was nearly in tears—I just wanted to go home. But before I could give in to the frustration, I remembered how the Lord had so obviously orchestrated my little detour earlier in the day and I started to pray. Lord, You’ve always been so faithful to order my steps. Thank You for the beautiful view earlier today, I know there is purpose and opportunity in every step of the journey. You know how tired I am, but I trust You to get me safely home. As I was praying, I spotted an off-ramp to turn around on. I realized that I didn’t want to “blame” God for my own carelessness in missing the first one, so as I headed down the ramp, I started to add to my prayer, “Of course I’m completely responsible for my own carelessness…” but before I could finish my thought, the view in front of me changed my mind and my sentence drifted off in another direction “…or maybe not!”
The off-ramp I was heading down faced due west. My little detour had exhausted so much of the day that it was now early evening. I looked up as I exited the freeway and came face to face with one of the most beautiful displays of God’s splendor that I have ever seen. The sun was just beginning to dip behind the mountains and it hung in the sky like a blazing ball of fire. It was surrounded by perfect prisms of light that literally burst through the cloudy sky. The surrounding sky was just beginning to turn shades of purple and pink, but that wasn’t the focus—my eyes were riveted to the sun itself. Its glory simply couldn’t be diminished or hidden by the dark clouds in the sky. In fact, they only added to its beauty. Of all the sunsets Jesus had painted for me, this one was, by far, the most spectacular. All the weariness of the journey was lost in that single moment of gazing upon His glory. And it was well worth it.
Of course I remembered His gentle whisper from earlier in the day. My eyes filled with tears as I realized, once again, that despite being quite different than what I had expected or planned, the Lord had faithfully brought me to exactly the right place, at exactly the right time. And, once again, He not only kept His word … He did more.
Sometimes life will lead us down roads we never planned to travel. Although there are glimpses of His beauty along the way, often the journey is long and we grow weary. Just stay on the road. His divine detours are always perfectly planned and perfectly timed. He knows the way and He will lead us safely home—at just the right time. And when He does, all the weariness of the journey will be lost in a single moment of gazing upon the glory of the Son.
He will keep His word … and more.
“No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him.” –I Corinthians 5:9
. In fact I had a dream a week or so ago that seemed to underscore this. In my dream, I was standing on a sidewalk and a van came speeding by. I knew I was supposed to be in that van, so I ran up to it and jumped in the passenger seat. As soon as I got in, I was in for a big surprise….there was NO driver yet we went speeding off at what seemed like a hundred miles an hour! I was totally freaked out and kept thinking I needed to somehow get in the driver’s seat to take “control.” The funny thing was that even though the van was screeching all over the place and taking all kinds of sudden twists and turns–we never ran into anything. But it was still just a little too scary for me, so finally I managed to grab the wheel and jerked it hard so that we headed straight into a parking lot…a place I thought would be safe. Well, it wasn’t. As soon as the van pulled into the parking lot, there was a big semi truck heading straight for us! I screamed out, “Do a miracle, Jesus!” and the the van stopped. End of dream…but not the end of the story.