Lessons learned this year (part 2)

This past year has been memorable.  Of course, there’s been trying to navigate in a covid world, but – as challenging as this has been – it’s certainly not just that.  For instance, I’ve mentioned my prolonged upper respiratory sickness and subsequent intense pain that persists to this day.  I’ve never endured such an unusual episode. 

Furthermore, I’ve been contemplating my life and legacy.  I have been doing this for several reasons: 1) because I am just a few months away from my 40th birthday.  2) I recently just about got into a car wreck.  It is miraculous to me how the car that swerved into my lane somehow didn’t hit me!  There was no damage whatsoever – unless you want to mention the affect it had on my emotions.  It was a visceral reminder that life is fragile and precious.

So, after that introduction, what is the lesson I learned that I want to convey today?  Well, once again, as I have been reflecting on the brevity of life; I’ve been thinking about a hero of mine.  I’m referring to a pastor named Rick Ferguson.  Rick passed away in 2002, at the young age of 46, but he left an amazing legacy for God.  Pastor Rick said this on more than one occasion:

“If we knew what God knows, we would always want what God wants.”

The older I get, the more I see the wisdom of these words.  To begin, God knows things that we don’t know, and will never know.  Romans 11:33 says, “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!  How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!”  God is love but He’s also all-knowing, perfect, and holy.  Yet sometimes I am tempted to think that I actually know better than God.  What foolishness!  My limited knowledge and perspective isn’t a reliable gauge.

I love the book “You can trust God to write your story” by Robert and Nancy Demoss Wolgemuth.  In chapter 1 of the book, they write, “Perspective makes all the difference.  God sees the beginning and the end and everything in between; we only see this present moment...He has a wide-angle lens and sees the whole mural He is painting in all of history.  We only see the little speck of time and space we occupy at this moment.”  Amen and amen!  Therefore, I can trust God with the details of my life, with the confidence that He knows best.

In conclusion, it is coming up on twenty years since Pastor Rick Ferguson unexpectedly passed away.  It was one of the first times in my life where I tasted the bitter pill of losing someone you love.  But his life and legacy inspires me even now.  Because he wasn’t just talking the talk, he was living it.  I could go on and on, but for today, I remember his maxim: “If we knew what God knows, we would always want what God wants.”  This year has been a hard year.  But I resolve yet again to put my trust in God, knowing that His way is the best way.

Kevin