It is the week of Advent Hope 2024 and I just found an old journal entry from Christmas 2017. That was a scary and lonely season when I had recently left full-time employment in the church where I faithfully served many years. I knew my obedience to step out would bring me into places I could not enter unless I embraced the messy business of leaving the comfort I had always known. It was in that context that I wrote these words.

“Sometimes, inconvenient disruptions carry us to our destiny.

Mary ✢ Joseph ✣ a Census ✣ and a Donkey”

My guess is that I pondered long and steady with these thoughts since that is all I wrote. I visit them again with depth too deep for words… but I will try.

Mary’s obedience to say, Yes, to God’s will was difficult. I cannot even imagine the talk of the town when they heard she was pregnant, let alone, the reputation that followed.

Saying, Yes, to God does not mean everyone will understand or agree. Some will. Some won’t. The important thing is to keep moving forward the best we can in obedient faith through a heart of love.

Joseph was a righteous man who was heartbroken because it seemed that Mary had been unfaithful. Yet, nothing in him wanted to hurt her. He would deal with things quietly and respectfully in a way that honored his needs and hers. What a guy! God intervened and gave him hopeful direction while he was sleeping and not while he was struggling.

Saying, Yes, to God does not mean that your heart won’t feel broken at times. The question is, what do we do with the pain? Do we lash out in vengeful pride to destroy or do we humbly choose responses that wisely and honestly honor needs. That’s tough but it can be done with God’s help. I love that Heaven intervened while Joseph slept. That’s a whole sermon in itself. I will leave it here to say… Sleep is good when life is hard.

A census happened. Really? Wow. Talk about rotten timing! Was there no exception for a family with a very pregnant woman who had to travel far across rugged terrain? Apparently not. This makes my head spin but… oh well.

It’s sort of like that with our walk of faith. Things can happen out of nowhere that make our head spin. It requires us to, perhaps, uproot and move in ways that are difficult. It makes no sense and certainly does not seem fair. Yet… the plans and purposes of God march onward. We might be shocked but God is not! Though inconceivable at the moment, those plans are in our best interest… even when inconvenient.

A donkey! God bless that donkey, the one who bore the weight of ministry, the one who carried the plan of God forward, the one who kept going and going and going. What a beautiful foreshadow of the day when Jesus would ride through the streets of Jerusalem on a donkey as our humble servant King.

The donkey was not a hot shot in any regard. Horses were bigger and better in most opinions. Yet! What if he was actually who he was supposed to be? What if the donkey’s seeming inferiority, in the hands of God, was all part of the plan?

Here are a few final thoughts to wrap it up. True greatness in God’s kingdom is found in those willing to…

Say, Yes, when it is difficult.

Respond to heartbreaking moments with respectful honesty and honor.

Trust the heart of God when life does not make sense.

And remember… God uses donkeys… even you 😉