Verry Funny... ya.

It seems that God likes to be a bit sarcastic with me at times and He loves to smile at me. Since a few weeks the cooks at Bethany had compelled me to go to a “Salad Fiesta” held at Bethany, yesterday night. I just didn’t feel like going, to be with two hundred or so ladies my mom’s age and up for a supper of variety of salads and hear a woman talk about some “biblical” stuff for women did not appeal to me. I kept telling the cooks “Listen, I am 21, I would not enjoy learning about salads, I’m just not interested!” The day of the Salad Fiesta arrived, Monday May 1st. As I left home to go to work that morning I found an envelope with my name on, where my landlord usually left my mail. I opened it and I found a card from her, with a ticket for the Salad Fiesta. She had bought a ticket and hoped I’d be able to go. MAN. You should have seen the smile on my face. It’s not that I was happy to be able to go, I laughed at how sarcastic this whole thing was. I simply could not refuse to go, this lady who knew not that I did not desire to go, gave me a ticket thinking I’d be glad. I had to go, I had no excuse. I told my friend at work and she really laughed at me. I was stuck. So I went. The cooks were really surprised to see me there and for sure, laughed at me when I told them the story. The evening was good. I’m glad I went. What is even funnier is that they had a draw, I usually never win anything (except when I put my name 10 times in a 50-name draw, which I did one time…) but anyways, my name was drawn and I won at beautiful garden thermometer. What am I going to do with that? I am not a women and I don’t have a garden! I tried to trade it for a Bethany hoody a staff got… but it didn’t work.

So what’s the point of my little story? I’m not really sure. But I feel at times that God loves to lead me where I don’t want to go, with a big smile on His face, sort of laughing at me because He knows it’s not going to hurt me, or simply because it’s funny to change Gabe’s plans. I think it’s funny too. And I’m glad God has this sense of humour with me. It makes life more interesting and laughing at me is always good for me.
This little, non-important situation in my life reminds me of a verse that I read a few days ago in Acts 26:14, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads” The NTL says “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is useless for you to fight against me.” The LS (French) says, “Saul, Saul, pourquoi me persécutes-tu? Il te serait dur de regimber contre les aguillons. » The version that makes the more sense to me, is the NLT, the French has some obscure meaning, and the word “goads” from the NIV doesn’t mean a thing to me. So even though I don’t like NLT, I like this verse because it makes sense to me and hopefully, it’s rendering the right meaning of the verse. I think that sometimes God says the same thing to me, “Gabe, why are you persecuting me? It is useless for you to fight against me.” I don’t think I was fighting God when I did not want to go to the Salad thing. But it makes me think that sometimes I want to go against the will of God and I am fighting for my own point of view, my own so-called “rights” and desires. But God says “It’s useless to fight against me”.

I am learning that God’s will is supreme, that I can choose to fight against it or to give in. To me, fighting is characterized by transpiration and giving in is characterized by rest. To fight against God is useless and will bring us only backaches. To surrender to Him will give us rest as we trust that He knows what He’s doing. Our rest may be accompanied by nightmares (fears because of uncertainty) and a couple of “wake up in the middle of the night” (not understanding why God’s will is so), but it is useless (no use) to fight against God. And I’d add, it is no fun either.

Let us embrace our today, let us surrender with faith to the Holy Spirit that leads us in paths we don’t know or in places we feel lost. It’s ok.

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