When It All Goes Wrong.....

When our son was a little boy, we planned a family trip to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania to tour the town and battlefields and to witness a Civil War reenactment. Being frugal people (meaning we didn’t have enough money for a hotel), we borrowed a tent from a church friend and made the six-hour drive, planning to save money by doing our own cooking at the campsite so that food would cost us no more than it would have at home.

Alas, that plan fell apart quickly, because the rains came down, day after day, and we could not cook those homemade meals because it’s a really terrible idea to use a propane camp stove inside a tent if you want to live to make the trip home. So, we did what all good travelers do – we hit the fast food restaurants!  One evening, we found ourselves in that traditional Scottish establishment – McDonald’s. 

One thing that is unique about the Gettysburg area is that because of the emphasis on history in the town, even the fast food restaurants are decorated with large paintings by local artists that depict battle scenes from the July 1863 conflict there.  While I was waiting for our food, I stood looking at a painting of Pickett’s Charge – a part of the battle in which an ancestor of mine had fought.  I glanced over beside me and there was a Civil War reenactor in a Union uniform admiring the same picture.  We struck up a short conversation and we found out his name was Mike and he was from Kenova, West Virginia – not far from where we lived at the time.

Long story short – we exchanged contact information and when we returned home, he introduced us to the leader of his reenactment group and we joined the unit shortly thereafter.  This led to a hobby that we pursued as a family for several years which planted a love of all things historical in our son that he enjoys to this day.  We traveled, learned, made lasting friendships, and contributed to other folks’ understanding of Civil War history.

What does all this have to do with anything? Well, my perfect little money-saving plans for feeding our family on a budget were disturbed by the unrelenting rain, but had it not been for the weather, we would not have met Mike and we would have never experienced this portion of our lives that we treasure to this day. 

Many times, we have our little plans for our lives worked out just so perfectly.  We think we are in charge and have it all together, but then circumstances come along that we can’t control and things veer off course. Those interruptions can be just inconvenient or irritating, but sometimes they can even be painful.  However, they can lead to something new in our lives that might never have happened had our original design stayed in place.  I think that’s what trusting God is all about.  We don’t always like the path we must walk, but God can bring blessing out of challenge and make the messes in our lives into messages.