Lakemount Blog

In September, a group of brainstormers in our family ministries department looked at the 2010 calendar and planned four fun seasonal events for Lakemount this year.  We made a decision that in late January we would host a family winter party with the assumption that there would be snow.    By the time the date arrived, we had less than three milimetres of snow on the ground, so we postponed the event until the third Sunday in February.  Surely there would be snow by that date!  Afterall, this IS Canada!  What I neglected to realize was that my perspective was based on my experience living the majorityof my life in the snowbelt of Barrie, rather than the greenbelt of southern Ontario.   By our second attempt at a winter party, we realized snow was not coming, and we came to a new assumption that the winter party was to be cancelled for this year.  Irony would have it that the day after our cancelled event, we would experience the first major snow storm for the region.  I wonder how many of us were thinking about how great our winter party could have been, if only it was a couple of days later.

Assumptions don’t always pan out to be facts.   There are so many things in life we make choices about based on our personal assumptions.  Assumptions about what people are like, how our day should run, what churches look like, who God is, how He should act….and the list goes on.  Faith assumptions can cause us to assume things about God that are not necessarily in His character.  It also causes us to sometimes doubt God when we see a situation turn in a direction we assumed a ‘good God’ would never allow to happen.  Get into a discussion with a few people about third-world poverty, fallen evangelists, and the way the church should be, and you’ll soon find that many of us have assumptions we picked up along the way.  If we really value a personal relationship with a supernatural God, then it’s important to be willing to lay aside our assumptions and ask God to reveal who he is.  Those of us who have been brought up in the faith have to struggle with our eagerness to ‘predict’ God’s plans, just like we tried to predict that there would be snow.  Instead, we ought to be proclaiming God’s truths about who He is and His character.  Descriptions of a wonderful God are easy to find if you go to the Psalms, or any scripture.  It’s as we proclaim the truths about God’s character and love for us, then we can be eased of the worries, and replace our assumptions with a confidence in the One who is sovereign over all.  Afterall, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him”  (1 Corin. 2:9).  Thankfully the Spirit gives us glimpses into the heart of God, like promising snow clouds in the distance.  However, we are humbled by the truth that until the fullness of His purposes are made known we are left knowing ”in part”, with the hope and sureness that someday we will “know fully, even as (we are) fully known” (1 Corin. 13:9,12).

What assumptions are holding you back from experiencing all that heaven has to offer God’s children?  Can you surrender them to a loving, perfect God, despite your ability to predict His plans?

I see snow clouds hovering in the distance.  Maybe more snow is on it’s way.