Of Lemons and Lemonade

"Wow." All I could say was, "Wow." Fifty high school children and adults were staring at me in the dark, all of them laughing and twittering and having a good time and suddenly there was silence.

I was presenting how the heavens declare the glory of God to a high school retreat last week. We were outside at night and the show was shining via a projector on the side of the ranch house while the grass was cool relief from the heat of the desert day under the bare feet of the audience.

God had put on my heart that I was to bend this presentation to "hope versus hopelessness" and thereby minister to these teens with a message of comfort from the God who created the universe. But I really didn't know how to get their attention.

I have really cool photos and movies about the stars and planets and such and I have worked hard at being entertaining and a good teacher to any aged audience. But I was still stumped at how to "connect" with these kids about hopelessness and hope as God had directed me to do.

So after I started the presentation and we were all having a good time, God whispered to me, "Tell them about you and your family...how you really do know what despair is like." And that's when it happened. I stopped the jokes and told them, "I've been telling you that if you are feeling sad and lonely at this retreat and like an outsider when your friends are having such a good time, I can tell you, I know what sadness and despair feel like." And then I shared with them about my wife's health and my finances and my inability to find a job and fulfil my role as a provider.

Suddenly I went from an entertaining teacher on astronomy and God to a real person who understood what individuals were feeling. In that moment, I gained the credibility with the audience that I needed and that God wanted to give me so He could minister to young souls.

We looked up from my presentation on the side of the ranch house and looked up at the sky overhead. The sky was so dark that the Milky Way was clearly visible and we could see satellites racing overhead. Clouds of stars floated in inky space and meteors became shooting stars right before us. In that moment, we stopped looking at ourselves and looked at the God of the Universe. In that moment fifty lives were changed, including mine.

After the retreat was over I met with the high school pastor for a moment. He said that the presentation was voted the best part of the retreat and that many kids had told him they were ministered to and suddenly understood God's awesomeness in times of trouble.

God had given me marching orders to talk on hope versus hopelessness. I did not know how to do it but I marched. Then at the right time He gave another order on what to say, just in the nick of time. And He, not me, was magnified.

He did not do it to lift me up but He did it to serve a bunch of children and adults that He loves and whom He wants healed. God knows the troubles all of us face, and He wants to touch us. Satan tries to destroy, but God is supreme: Gen 50:20 NKJV - "But as for you, you meant evil against me; [but] God meant it for good..."

Listen to God's still, small voice and He will tell you which direction to march. And look for Him to show up in the most amazing places and in the most unsuspected times.

He's waiting for you.