If you ever wonder if you are doing something that is pleasing God then you may need to look and see what obstacles are in your way. I was at a church planter’s conference today that was just outside of Charlotte. Charlotte is about 4 hours from my house and I left at about 5 am after taking about 45 minutes to get out the door. Four AM wake ups are not in my general DNA. Anyway at the conference they finally got to the place where they started talking about raising money to pay for the church plant.

I am amazed at the guys who raised 50 to 60 thousand at the blink of a eye the year before launch and never seemed (seemed maybe the optimal word) to see that as much of a obstacle. I was thinking man that is really a obstacle our little church has had to face, in figuring out where we are going to raise the funds we need for our launch and hiring people. I went up to the speaker afterwards and asked how do you do that when you don’t have a bunch of contacts with deep pockets. He said you just got to do it. Not exactly the answer I was looking for. I left a little downbeat on that one. I got to thinking on the 4 hour trip back to Wilmington from the conference. Four hour trips are great for thinking time even when you are dog tired. Maybe, just maybe God is trying to grow our church and me expressly by setting up obstacles.

Consistent obstacles such as funding tend to make one go to their knees a lot more. I believe God sometimes puts us up against huge obstacles so he can show us just how awesome (biblical and cultural sense of the word) he really is. If God really is sovereign (in ultimate control) and Lord (the ultimate ruler) then why don’t we see God as the one who allows us to face great obstacles just so we will grow as people. I think he does this especially to Christians. Some Christians have had more obstacles then many other people have ever imagined. When we are face to face with great obstacles it reminds us how small we all are and how much we need a God greater than us to take out our obstacles on our behalf. I am beginning to look at obstacles (be they challenges or people) as a opportunity from God to work and show himself to me in a fresh way. God is bigger than my obstacles. So as obstacles keep coming up I will keep trying to see how God is at work.