Life Is Full Of Surprises

Life is full of surprises, some are pleasant, some are unpleasant, some are funny, and some bring tears, some are enjoyable, exciting events and some are dreaded, dismal disasters.

Let me tell you about one of Marlene’s surprises. When Wayne Goodman was my assistant minister at Eastside, he was about to perform his first baptism. He was unsure of how to do it so Marlene agreed to let him practice on her. That is significant because she has a fear of water, instilled by her mother, because her father drowned in the Little Nestucca River 6 weeks before she was born. So we went to the church and set the baptistery up, she and Wayne entered the water and the surprise happened.

Wayne lowered Marlene under the water, and while she was under, he said, “You are being baptized into Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of sin, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” I said, “Wayne, usually we say that before we immerse them, and so you need to bring her up now.” She was surprised but not amused. That was one time she wished we were sprinklers!

Life is full of surprises. Paul received a surprise. He was given a glimpse of Heaven and wrote, “Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me—to keep me from exalting myself! Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me. And He has said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.’ Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.” 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 (NASB).

I want to share three truths about surprises.

I. WE DON’T GET TO CHOOSE OUR SURPRISES:

A. Paul was hit by a trio of surprises:

1. First, he was surprised by being granted the vision.

2. Second, he was surprised by the thorn in the flesh, which many assume was bad eyesight.

3. Third, he was surprised by the sufficient, empowering grace.

B. But he had chosen none of these surprises. That was not his privilege. Nor is it ours. We do not get to hand pick our surprises even though sometimes we cause them.

1. Your foot slips off the brake and hits the throttle causing your car lurch forward, smashing into the brand-new BMW just in front of you.

a. You are not the only one getting an unchosen surprise.

b. And if the driver gets out of the car with fury on his face, doubled fists and fire in his eyes and heads your way, you might be in for another surprise you didn’t choose.

2. Or we might over indulge like the man in the anti-acid commercial. He is sitting on the edge of his bed looking less lively than road-kill, lamenting, ”I ate the whole thing! I can’t believe I ate the whole thing!” He chose to pig out on pizza but didn’t get to choose the attendant surprise.

C. Marlene and I didn’t choose cancer or Parkinson’s for me or diabetes or shingles for her.

1. BUT SURPRISE: we got them anyway.

2. And if God sees fit for us to be so afflicted, I just pray He will show us how to use these unchosen surprises.

a. How can we witness to others?

b. How can we develop deeper faith?

c. How do we rejoice in midst of a confusing time?

d. How do we glorify Him?

D. What unchosen surprises have you experienced?

1. Were you the victim of a scam?

2. Did someone you trusted betray or fail you?

3. Has poor health made itself at home?

4. Has loss of employment shaken you?

E. Let me illustrate an unchosen surprise. A man was a woodcarver by hobby. He bought a very expensive set of wood carving knives and put them on his table, went to work, and daydreamed about those fabulous tools. Finally it was time to go home to enjoy an hour or so of wood carving.

But unbeknownst to him, his 5 year old son got into the knife set and somehow chipped the cutting edge of one of them. He put it back in the box hoping it would not be noticed.

Dad opened the box, extracted the knives and, naturally, saw that one was damaged. He was sure his wife hadn’t shaved her legs with it so the culprit had to be his son.