Confession: I originally booked this 4-day trip to the Great Smokey Mountains (near Knoxville, TN) to attend the Smokey Mountain Star Gaze. Planned on loading up my 8-inch “cat” scope to do a “Messier Marathon” here, staying up all night long to take in the beauty of the night sky. I’m convinced it would have been great. But God had something different in mind. He must have known that I’d stay up and star-gaze all night, then sleep during the day or something. Because since I arrived, none of us has seen any stars whatsoever. (OK… I thought I saw a couple through the clouds on the first night. But even *they* faded quickly.)
So what did I do here for 4 days? Well as I occasionally glanced out my camper window, only to see most of the other guys standing around just complaining about the weather, the Lord has given me 4 days for a unique spiritual retreat, filled with prayer, reading, brainstorming, and recasting the dreams for my life. I’ll be honest — I’m sold-out on the concept of the sovereignty of God. He *had* to laugh as I planned to come here, charting out the Messier catalogue of 109 deep space objects I thought I would observe each night. I truly believe he already knew that *none* of them would show up here. He knew I’d be stuck with reviewing, regrouping, revising, and revisiting my life, my family, my ministry, and the organization I’m tasked with leading. And he, in his infinite wisdom, was right! I needed it… and loved it.
“So thank you Jesus that I drove 6 hours, ascended 3000 feet, only to sit here in the mist, rain and clouds for 4 days. (No wonder they call them the Great Smokies!) Thank you for this time. And now, may you grant this kind of time to all 10,000 of my friends in the world of Brigada!”
Doug
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