Daily Devotional

Had everything gone according to plan, I never would have come to Fresno.

It was the spring of my sophomore year of college, which meant it was time to make plans for the summer. Internships were a big status symbol at my school, so I was eager to land a good one. Having spent the previous summer working in retail (which, though it paid the bills, was simply not for me), I wanted something a little more… fulfilling. At the time, I was running an on-campus ministry, so I figured a church internship was the way to go.

For me, the logical choice was to intern at Stonebriar, the church in Dallas where I grew up. Stonebriar was a Bible-belt megachurch with a well-known radio pastor; interning there would be great ministry experience and be prestigious enough to compare to my classmates’ law firm and D.C. internships. Plus, I had “unofficially” interned in the Stonebriar student ministry my senior year of high school, sitting in on staff meetings and helping plan events. I’d even won the church scholarship contest. After nailing my Zoom interview, I figured I was a shoe-in.

A few weeks later, my dream internship vanished before my eyes. Over the phone, I learned that Stonebriar had given the job to one of my old classmates in order to give “someone else a chance” (i.e. someone less sure of their ministry calling). I was disappointed, a little offended, and entirely without summer plans. I spent several days questioning this move by God: Lord, wasn’t this what you wanted me to do? Why would you close this door?

In my case, however, “when God closes a door, He opens a window” actually held true. Within a week, I was put in contact with an old friend of my grandparents named Jim Cecy. Turns out he needed some help in his church’s youth ministry and missions organization, so he invited me to intern in Fresno. Despite great misgivings about spending the summer in a place where I knew almost no one (AND that place being California, the butt of half the jokes told in the state of Texas), I ended up accepting the offer.

The rest, as it turns out, is history. I interned two summers with Campus and JARON, then moved to Fresno after graduation and started full-time work between the two. God did in fact use my internships to call me into vocational ministry. Most importantly, I met a cute college student named Lauren during my first internship and married her a year and a half later.

I sometimes think back on that fateful rejection by the Stonebriar student ministry. I was so sure of what God’s plan for my life was and was so devastated when it turned out differently. But out of that painful circumstance came my calling, my current jobs, my wife and daughter. Maybe you can look back on a difficult circumstance in your life that God ended up using for good. Maybe you’re in the middle of a difficult circumstance and you’re not sure how God could use this for good. I don’t know what God has in store for me or for you, but I know his plans are better than my plans. Are we willing to trust Him?

"English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers."