Do You Want to Make God Laugh?



A few years ago, I was the director of a non-profit organization.  I had been with this business for a long time and enjoyed it.  We provided educational and social service programs for children and families.  It was good work.  It was important work.  We touched a lot of families' lives and we made a difference; maybe a small difference, but we made a difference.

I always knew that when the time came for my son to graduate from high school I would move on to the next challenge, the next adventure.  I would move closer to home, to my parents and siblings.  Being a single mom, the only one I was responsible to was my son and he would be spreading his wings and flying all too soon.  I made my plans.  I was all ready.

But you know what they say about giving God a good laugh--just start making plans?  Well, He was laughing!  And about ten months before I was to implement my plan, I lost my job.  One of our biggest partners decided that it was no longer economically advisable to continue working together and, in a rather dramatic and hasty action, pulled all of his programs and his funding.  Faced with the options, which were few-given that we had no warning, the board of directors decided to close our business.  It was hard, but it was the right decision.

As prepared as I was for it all to happen in about a year, I was not prepared for the sudden way it was taken from me.  I was ready to do it on my terms, but to have a stranger step in and just take it, without even a discussion, was extremely difficult to take.  It, of course, caused a big ruckus in our community and there were hateful and nasty things said, on both sides. 

Now that it has been a few years, I can see that it all happened the way it was intended.  And through it all, of course, many good things happened.  I was given time, in my son's last year of high school to really be there for all the activities and not be distracted by my work.  What had been housed under our roof at the Center, became new organizations, a lot of them, creating new activities and experiences for many, many people.  Other organizations became responsible for creating and maintaining programs to help others.  In essence, they took what we taught them and created more!  This is the essence of what our program was all about, only on a much bigger scale than we had even considered.

God was laughing, alright!  But he was also molding, shaping, and refining each one of us to do the next thing on our agendas.  From the pain and anger came such good opportunities and friendships and life!  New life!  And it was good!

The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

Psalm 18:2