from this side

The other day Josh and I were talking about how it would be fun to open a coffee shop and use it for ministry, maybe near a college campus. Josh, referring to my time working at Starbucks, said, “Who knows where our past and present experiences are leading us…”

Sometimes in my life it has felt as though I have no control over what is going on. I take a job because it is the only one available, or we move somewhere because nothing else seems feasible.

Many times, when we set out to some new place, I have a lot of questions. Always about what the future holds, but sometimes even about whether we are making the right decisions. Inevitably, things work out. Josh and I always have our reasons for doing things, but every time we look back at our lives, we see that there was a bigger purpose there, a bigger story being told than the one we had planned or could even see.

It reminds me a little of being on hold on a phone call. I put a lot of people on hold, and I realize that they don’t know what is going on while they are on hold. They don’t hear the five phone calls I make to try to get them an answer, or me going to check the fax machine for their fax, or even me going to talk to a supervisor to try to resolve the issue. All they hear is the hold music.

Life is like that. Many times we don’t realize what is happening behind the hold music, even if it is happening inside of us, until it’s all done. But I believe, because I have seen, that God is working, even when I don’t see it from this side.