He may lead you to unexpected places
Across from the Salmon River
On our Idaho and Montana ride, 8 inches of snow on Lost Trail Pass on Tuesday made Jerry and I change our schedule. We’d planned to leave Challis ID on Tuesday over the Lost Trail pass to Missoula, but the weather experts predicted snow, not healthy for bikers. So we pulled out of Challis early on Monday, and soon met and followed the Salmon River in its gorgeous valleys and mountains. We left the river around Salmon ID, 140 miles south of Missoula. The next day we rode 200 miles west to Grangeville, and went south the next day to Meridian. But after Grangeville we came upon a good-sized river, which I assumed was the Snake, until a road sign claimed it was the Salmon. The one from 340 miles before? Couldn’t be, but it was. One river, stair stepping north from southeast Idaho to Salmon then 200 miles west and then north again.
I told that to Rich on the phone that might, and he suggested it would make a great post. I thought so too, let’s see if you do. The point: when you get on God’s highway, you don’t always know where you’ll head up. Leaving the pass, I thought I’d seen the last of the “River of No Return.” We couldn’t return to it, but we did. God often surprises us with places he takes us.
At 27, I left SoCal to craft a new life in Colorado, where I had a job lead. Nine close “coincidences” got me a better job, caretaking an unused guest ranch in the mountains above Taos. I swore I’d never move back to SoCal—just to visit. But a church loved me back into the ministry, and God led me back to SoCal--to live. Then, just after giving up the idea of marriage, I met a stunning single lady in a job interview for associate pastor at a church. In SoCal. Still here. Some twists and turns, but like the Salmon, SoCal came back into my life.
Surrender. When God says “Go,” we go. When God says “Jump,” we say “How high?” Funny, how he leads us to undreamed of places, like the road from Challis to Missoula. To places we’ve been to, like Missoula over the Lolo Pass to Grangeville. Just remember when God opened a door for Paul and he went the other way, God stuck around, “Now when I went to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ and found that the Lord had opened a door for me, I still had no peace of mind, because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I said good-bye to them and went on to Macedonia. But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph” (2 Corinthians 2:12-14).
Our destination: Triumph. Sounds good to me.
Kick Starting the Application
Ever have a time where God led you to a surprising and unexpected place? How did that impact your connection with him? Have you surrendered enough to say, “God, I’ll do it,” with no restrictions, without knowing what may come?