If you keep quiet at a time like this, deliverance and relief for the Jews will arise from some other place, but you and your relatives will die. Who knows if perhaps you were made queen for just such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14)
I looked at Judy and said, “We shouldn’t be here.” I know when you normally hear those words you are at a movie and a couple of teenagers are standing in a cemetery at midnight with a full moon with a wolf howling and a guy with a chainsaw standing a few feet away. That was not the case.
So, as you well remember, COVID brought us a world of cancellations. Vacation. Cancelled. Conference number one. Cancelled. Conference number two. Cancelled. In an attempt to get some refreshment, I went ahead and registered for conference number three. About ten days before it started, they called and said due to state regulations (North Carolina this time) they were having to dramatically reduce the number of attendees—from 400 to 110. Judy and I didn’t make the cut…by a long shot. We registered in early April, and they were cancelling all the way back to December of 2019.
I had gotten used to the rejection notices by now. Like a struggling actor or writer, it seemed nothing was going my way. So, after my normal foot stomping, “this is crazy” and all-time favorite, “when will it ever be normal” I settled back into life…desperately needing a fresh drink of water from the well. Then it happened.
Less than a week before the conference was to start, I received a phone call on my Dick Tracy Apple watch. I checked the caller ID, and it was the conference center. I ran to the kitchen to get my phone, answered, waiting to see what they wanted. She told me that they had been allowed to open an overflow room and would we be interested in coming? If I could speak ten languages, I would have said yes in all ten.
So, when we arrived at the conference it got interesting. The people in the main auditorium (and there were only 110 of them—normal attendance is 400) had white name tags and the ones in the overflow had tan name tags. We received our tan tags and waited for supper. I noticed that there were not many tan tags. How interesting. When it was time for the conference to start, the white taggers headed to the main room and tan taggers headed upstairs to the overflow area. And that was the turning point.
In this room meant to hold 150 people there were 28 of us. Blue covers draped over the back of 28 chairs showed where we could sit. It turns out we were members of a pretty, small select group. The total attendance was only 138 people and somehow, we were two of them. Keep in mind all those people who made reservations before April were in front of us in line and somehow, someway we were here. That’s when I said to Judy, “We shouldn’t be here.”
The topic for the conference was about rebuilding the church in a post quarantine world. One of the first things he said was that perhaps each of you are here for a specific reason. He then told the story of a young Jewish girl who, against all odds, found herself as queen in a foreign land. A plan had been hatched to kill all the Jews in the land and her uncle was asking her to go the king on the Jews behalf. He said, “Perhaps for such a time as this God has put you here.” For such a time as this. Hmmm.
I honestly feel that for some reason God has allowed me that opportunity to help lead our church in the coming days. The speaker made it clear that any thought that things are going to be the same was just not true. It was going to be different and challenging. It was also exciting. All of that has caused me to revisit the sovereignty of God. I mean, I just believe that God is in charge. Not circumstances, not government, not me. That means that He does have a plan that He is working out. The only question is are we going to trust Him and be a part of His plan or are we going to write our own. Spoiler alert. That never goes well.
Things did return to a new normal with groups gathering and recently we made the trip over to North Carolina again. It was then and is still a wonderful place to receive encouragement and a fresh wind from God.
For us, it is a good memory and reminder that whether in your every day, walk around life, or a business, or a church, if you are a Jesus follower, are you willing to let the Whisperer whisper and share with you, His plan? I hope I will have the wisdom and courage to do so. It will mean stepping out of my “I’ve done it this way for 40 years” comfort zone and perhaps, just perhaps, do something different…perhaps radically different. Who knows, maybe we, with Him, can change our world.
So, we shouldn’t be here, but I sure am going to be listening for the Whisperer to speak to my heart. I know it will be right. I know it will be challenging. I know it will be exciting. I know somewhere along the way He is going to say, “Rest in Me. I’ve got this.” He does. Bro. Dewayne
Grits with Grace 