GOD PROVIDES THE TICKET

Have you ever stepped back after a serendipitous event to realize how God’s plan unfolded. to see how He influenced people and events to carry out His plan for your life?

Despite the loving plans God promises us in Jeremiah 29:11, I still sometimes doubt and rebel and want to be in control. Fortunately, God understands my rebellious spirit, and lovingly reminds me that, indeed He actually holds the reins. This is exactly what God did recently, using a Christian rock concert to get my attention.

Casting Crowns, a Grammy Award-winning Christian contemporary music group, was scheduled to perform in our area. My daughter and I had a wonderful invitation to attend the concert with friends. (Not only would it be fun to share Christian fellowship with friends, it would be especially nice to share it with my teenage daughter.) My daughter was free that night, but being a typically overscheduled mom of high school children, I had other obligations that evening and sadly declined the invitation. I never even thought that God might have other plans in store for me.

Unexpectedly, a few days before the concert, my obligations vanished. I could now attend the concert. However, I didn’t have a ticket, much less a ticket to sit with my friends and daughter. One of the parents privately convinced me to go with them, even without a ticket. Besides, the concert wasn’t quite sold out.

The night of the concert we piled into cars, went to dinner, then drove to the arena. I went to the ticket booth where two young ladies were working. When I asked to buy a ticket, the two looked at each other momentarily and then back at me. “Are you by yourself?

Do you need one ticket?”

“Yes,” I replied. They pointed to a ticket taped to the window.

“Oh, this must be your ticket then,” they said.

I stammered a moment, confused. I assured them that I had not purchased a ticket previously, but actually was trying to buy one. They simply smiled and handed the ticket to me anyway, insisting that it was undoubtedly mine.

As I walked away from the window, I smiled, remembering my original plans for the night. It occurred to me that God had His own plan for me, and had worked it out. It seems such a simple thing, but God intended for me to share this concert with my daughter and friends all along. He worked to free my schedule, prompted a friend to convince me to go and even provided my ticket!

Once inside, we experienced the fullness of joy that only a Christian concert can bring. What a wonderful experience to be not only among friends and with my teenage daughter, but also thousands of other Christians singing praise to the Lord our God.

This Lenten season, let’s give God control, and trust that His plans don’t always match our plans; His plans are infinitely better, for they provide a life full of hope, promise, and fulfillment!

— Barbara Heard

Courtesy of The Church of the Good Shepherd United Methodist