John Chancellor said, “If you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans.” Today, I think back 23 years about how I knew I was supposed to be in Louisiana. God has His way of strategically prepositioning us to be in the right place at the right time. Call it providence. Call it divine appointments. Call it sovereignty. It was a God-thing, and it changed the trajectory of my life.
I’ll never forget the unexpected call that came from New Orleans, “We have your resume. Can you send us some additional information?” I had not initiated any of this. It was like a whirlwind over the next few weeks, which included a trip to Louisiana.
Interestingly, two years prior, my mentor encouraged me to take a whole battery of tests to figure out the kind of work that would be a good fit for me. I ended up with a list of fifteen specific things. After four days of interviewing, I found the match in Louisiana was fifteen out of fifteen. Coincidence or divine appointment?
During the four days of interviewing there was no time to look at houses or communities. On the way to the airport to return home I said to Donna, “Let’s find a neighborhood to drive through.” We had about fifteen spare minutes, so we turned and finally found a subdivision. As we drove through the neighborhood, I pointed to a house and said, “I’d like one like that one!”
A few weeks later we were back in Louisiana house hunting. Someone connected us to a realtor who knew nothing about our prior trip. We got in her car, and she said, “I’ve got a neighborhood I think you might like.” We watched as she drove into the same subdivision we stumbled upon earlier. In fact, my eyes bulged out when she pulled right up to that one house that I said I liked. Coincidence or divine appointment? By the way, that was the house we bought and still live in.
Before we flew home the Chairman of the Search Committee said, “Do you want to know what your compensation will be?” Truthfully, I simply wanted to be where God wanted me to be. One more point of information: two years prior, when I put together that list of fifteen things I was looking for, on a whim I asked Donna, “What do you want my salary to be?” I wrote her response down on my paper as #16 on my list. When the chairman gave my compensation amount, it was the exact number Donna gave me two years earlier. Coincidence or divine appointment? I can be pretty dense at times but even I could not miss God’s hand in leading us to Louisiana.
Our wild grace adventure continues. God is God and can be trusted. My job is to resign daily as manager of the universe. Jesus, indeed, knows what He is doing. Albert Einstein said, “God doesn’t play dice.” J. Oswald Sanders coined the phrase, “Let God engineer.” There is no guesswork with God. His timing and ways are perfect. Let us catch the wind of the Spirit today and soar.
Community-Wide Leader Faith Forum
Thank you for praying for the Regional Leader Faith Forum for the elected leaders and citizens who gathered to pray for our community and leaders. We had Senators, Representatives, State Treasurer. Secretary of State, Insurance Commissioner, Mayor, School Officials, Judge, Council, Sheriff and 25 pastors/missionaries. Together, we remembered, “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.” (Psalm 20:7)
Upcoming Speaking Events
- March 15, Governor’s Prayer Breakfast, Baton Rouge
- March 26, Men’s Breakfast Burke Community Church, Burke, VA
- March 27, Preaching at Forcey Bible Church, Silver Spring, MD
- March 29, New St. Bernard Parish Leader Faith Forum Launch
- May 5 – National Day of Prayer Event, Louisiana Capitol
- May 16-20, United Nations World Capitol’s Initiative, NYC, NY
- Sept. 15-28, Israel/Egypt Tour
- Oct. 28-30, War College Retreat, White Sulphur Springs, PA
Prayer Requests
Pray for the Louisiana Governor’s Prayer Breakfast on March 15. The Governor and First Lady, Statewide elected leaders, Senators and Representatives, local officials and one thousand citizens will participate in this event designed to pray for our Leaders, State, Legislative Session and the Community. Voddie Baucham will be the keynote speaker. The event sold out several weeks ago.
Pray for our ministry to leaders during the Louisiana Legislative Session that runs from March 14-June 6.
Helping Louisiana’s Leaders,
Michael