Small Mistakes. Little Lies. Big God.

Tired and dragging our feet, two of my teammates and I were excited to finally get home and eat our pre-dinner snacks of chips and cherries. As we approached the walkway leading up to our Airbnb, one of laughed saying, “How funny would it be if you didn’t have the keys?” My heart sank to my stomach… I didn’t have the keys. Two teammates that would be home an hour later had them. I didn’t even have to say that I didn’t have the keys because my friends could tell by the look on my face. They shrugged, and we found a nearby stoop to wait to hang out on for the time being.

Before the race, I was known for being notorious for losing or forgetting things. The enemy used it to sow into the lie that I’m incompetent. Any time I forgot something somewhere, I’d think, “Of course I did, how stupid! Could I really not even remember that?” Feelings of embarrassment, incompetence, and irresponsibility would creep in. It was pretty bad. I’ve made it a serious goal to stop being so forgetful, and since coming on the race, I’ve seen significant improvement in that area. For some reason, when I forgot those keys, all of those lies and negative feelings started creeping back in. 

Right after I apologized for what was probably the fiftieth time, a man with two prosthetic legs took a seat next to us and took a long drag of his cigarette to say hello behind a cloud of smoke. We talked about where we were from and what we believe. He told us that he believes in the universe and nature because he had no need for religion and that he had lost his legs from one of his five attempts to commit suicide. We debated back and forth a bit about the need for Jesus to cure depression and suicidal thoughts until finally we left him with a challenge to read the book of John the next time he felt depressed or whatnot.

The next evening our team was spending sweet time together when the man from the stoop randomly messaged us. It’s always in the moments you least expect that the people you least expect reach out, and God puts an opportunity on a silver platter. The man asked us for a link to the book of John, and he wants to meet up and read it with us! Crazy right? Even crazier to think that we would have never had that encounter if I hadn’t forgotten the keys. It wasn’t that I was incompetent, forgetful, or irresponsible, it was that the Lord was setting us up to share the gospel with someone.

We always make these bold promises to ourselves that we will be less forgetful, lie less, be more kind, etc. Whenever we fall short on these promises, we feel shameful instead of convicted. That’s when the enemy creeps in and makes us believe things about ourselves that are opposite to our God-given identity. When we inevitably fall short in these areas, instead of hanging our heads in shame, we should lift our eyes to see how God wants to move. He is always faithful to move in our shortcomings.

How does God want to move in your latest shortcoming?