May
27
Written by:
Rev. Ed Boon
5/27/2010 6:39 PM
Did you ever feel like you could handle things better than God? I have. One day God showed me that he actually does know better than I what He is doing.
“LORD YOU REALLY BLEW IT”
It was 1992. I had just moved to Toulouse, France from the town of Mazamet where I had worked for a number of years. One morning I did something I had wanted to do for some time. I drove down to the center of the city, parked in a parking garage and walked to the center of the city. I sat down at an outdoor café and ordered a cup of coffee. I sat there looking out over that huge square and thought about one of the greatest lessons that God had ever taught me.
Karen and I had transferred from our work in Africa to France in 1980 and we had been assigned to a church planting project in Mazamet. France.
Church planting is never easy, but in France it is particularly difficult. We worked for years trying everything possible to reach out to people. On one occasion we even had the former Astronaut James Irwin come for a huge rally.
One idea that we had had one time was that in the summer people tend to stay outside and hang out. So with some difficulty we received permission from the Mayor’s office to hold an outdoor evening concert. We arranged for a very popular Christian Rock group to come for the concert.
We had reserved a very good open plaza and I had been able to borrow a covered portable bandstand where the band could set up and play while being sheltered from the elements. The “good” thing was that the concert was scheduled for the first weekend in August. That’s the dry season in that area of France and it never rains then. In fact in the eleven years that we were in Mazamet I only know of two days that it rained at the time—the day before our concert and the day of the concert.
We had been expecting close to a thousand people to attend. That evening as the band played I stood there and counted—125 straggly wet and not too enthusiastic people. The band did their thing. They played and gave their testimonies. And it was done. I don’t think I’ve ever been as discouraged as I was that evening. When I arrived home, I was in a funk. I prayed that evening and I quite honestly said: “Lord, you know you blew it. It didn’t have to rain. Why did you let it rain?”
About a year later I was still a bit perturbed about the whole thing when I received a life changing phone call. There was a young fellow on the phone. He was calling from the city of Toulouse. Toulouse is France’s fourth largest and fastest growing city. Because of its fast development it’s been known as the city of the thousand cranes. Everywhere you look there are signs of building. Mazamet, by comparison, was just a country town.
The young fellow on the phone was quite excited and talked in a steady stream. He told me he had just booked the same group we had had in Mazamet and had received permission to hold the concert at The Place Saint George, a very large open square in the heart of the city. He went on and on about all the preparations and I couldn’t get a word in. I could tell from his voice that he was fairly young and I didn’t want to “prick” his bubble or discourage him, but when he finally paused for a breath I said to him: “I want you to know that we will be praying for you and the concert. I certainly hope that you have more success than we did, because the last time we had that group it rained, it was an absolute disaster.” The young man then said something that I will never forget. Something that I believe came right from the mouth of God. He said: “Well if it will make you feel any better let me tell you something. I was at that concert in Mazamet and it was there that I gave my life to the Lord. That’s why I’m organizing the concert in Toulouse.”
Well, the concert went on in Toulouse and it didn’t rain. Thousands attended and a couple of hundred responded to the invitation.
In Isaiah 55:6-9 we read:” 6 Seek the Lord while you can find him. Call on him now while he is near. 7 Let the wicked change their ways and banish the very thought of doing wrong. Let them turn to the Lord that he may have mercy on them. Yes, turn to our God, for he will forgive generously. 8 “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. 9 For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.” NLT
So it was as I sat there outside that Café at the very place where that Toulouse concert had taken place, there were tears in my eyes and a lump in my throat as I thanked the Lord for that very special lesson. Many times things take place that we don’t understand. But I have come to learn that indeed all too often my thoughts are nothing like His thoughts and His ways are far higher than my ways. God does indeed know what he is doing and even in our darkest moments we must learn to trust Him. Thanks you Lord for that lesson. It was a lesson of faith and trusting. It was a lesson on how God can and will turn seeming failure into triumph for His glory. Praise His name.