Over the last several months, my parents have been hosting the Sunday night Bible study for the college ministry, Oasis, at their house. Every Sunday night, they open the door to 20 plus college students, fully stocked with bottled waters, pizza rolls, cookies, and fruit (you know, for balanced nutrition). This Sunday was the second time I was able to join them since they started at my parents’ house, and I had the joy of meeting several of the students that are there every week. My parents first started off doing this because there wasn’t really another option, so that made them the best candidate. Now, every update I get from them usually involves at least one of these students because they have all become a huge part of my parents’ lives.
Hilary was one of the first ones I heard about several months ago, and we were able to sit down and share stories for a little while after the study Sunday night. I was actually able to be the “guest speaker” for the night, so I just talked about what I knew, which is spontaneous ministry and being an international traveler. I’ve always been a very planned speaker, but with this audience, I just wanted to tell stories that would hopefully prompt ideas and questions. I guess it worked because after my allotted time was over, the meeting lasted another few hours as we all sat around and talked and eventually ended up all going to grab dinner. I guess you can only get a certain amount of filling from a few dozen pizza rolls.
I was able to connect with Hilary because she’s been given the freedom to help set up and coordinate a trip for her student ministry back home. Basically, she’s been tasked with figuring out where to go and what types of ministry they could be involved with. We talked for a while about the different countries out there and what she would be interested in. I love talking cultures with people, so it was fun to hear about the types of opportunities they were looking for. Eventually, we got around to each others’ stories, and it was cool to hear some similarities. As far as schools, The University of Alabama wasn’t really on her radar because she was interested in going to run track at a smaller school. An early injury sidelined and eventually ended her career, and before she knew it, she was in Alabama. Now God has taken her down a completely different path.
It was fun to talk about what things she would’ve missed if she wasn’t in Alabama and if she didn’t have the freedom in her schedule that she has now. A couple of years ago, through an injury, God took away this one opportunity that was in front of her to provide her with a much better one. Life would have been different for her if she was still running track. I highly doubt it would’ve been bad, it just would’ve been different. Opportunities, choices, and motives would all be different, and so the path she was walking would have just looked a lot different. I don’t know why God works the way He does, but sometimes He helps us along in our decisions. When my football career ended earlier than planned due to injury, I had no idea that was God taking that route away from me. It obviously wasn’t the right choice for me, so He just removed it. So many times God lets us choose which option we want. Others, he takes one route completely away to reveal his better, much closer to perfect, plan.
