When the Compass Needle Spins

Last week I began the book, Wild Goose Chase by Mark Batterson. Mark Batterson wrote my all-time favorite book, In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day. In Celtic Spirituality the Holy Spirit was called An Geadh´Glas––The Wild Goose. (As a side note, next spring I will be taking a Celtic Spirituality class for my Spiritual Foundations elective.)

Last night while reading I came across some encouraging words for my spinning compass needle: Few things are as disorienting as in-between times––between jobs, between relationships, or between a rock and a hard place. But nothing rattles the cage like a bad diagnosis, a pink slip, or divorce papers. They cause the compass needle to spin. And we feel lost because our plans and our lives fall apart. But the upside is that it causes us to seek God with a raw intensity that cannot be manufactured any other way. Disorientation has a way of driving us to our knees. And that is one reason why the bad things that happen to us can actually turn into the best things that happen to us (pp. 122-123).

I do feel like I'm in one of those disorienting in-between times. I walked away from something I always thought I wanted in order to finish my degree here. I feel like I did the right thing, but I still second guess myself wondering if I walked away from a once in a lifetime opportunity. Mark Batterson's words and God's words helped my compass stop spinning: We put so much pressure on ourselves, as if the eternal plans of almighty God are contingent upon our ability to decipher them. The truth is, God wants to reveal them more than we want to know them. And if we think one misstep can frustrate the providential plans of the Omnipotent One, then our God is way too small. Not only does God want us to get where God wants us to go more than we want to get where God wants us to go, but He is awfully good at getting us there. He may not always reveal His plans how or when we want Him to. But when we chase the Wild Goose, our future becomes His responsibility. "In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps" (Proverbs 16:9), (pp. 128-129).