You never know whom you’re going to meet. And you also never know how and when God is going to move. I recently tried to schedule a miracle. I wish I were joking. But of course in God’s wisdom the miracle that I thought would happen, didn’t.

We went to the park where usually there are lots of kids to play sports with. I thought I had the secret combination to making those connections happen. Nope. But here’s the crazy part. Our groups did connect with kids from different walks of life. Our team from South Dakota bonded with our group from Pennsylvania. Here’s a bunch of teenagers and young adults who otherwise wouldn’t have met, sharing space together, doing missions together and for that short time at the park playing together.

It was awesome watching them work together and also to watch how they treated one another with honor and respect even though they didn’t know each other all that well. Please don’t misunderstand me, there was teasing and competition, but it wasn’t mean or aimed to hurt. They learned how to play with and against one another and this has proven to be key to the rest of the week.

Because of the time that they spent playing with one another lasting friendships started, and they started to feel more free with one another during ministry as well as here around the church. So really, a miracle did happen, but it wasn’t the one I “planned.” It was the one that God had planned, which was, of course, much better.

The lesson here: miracles often times don’t turn out to be what we expect or plan for, but in the long run they end up to be better than anything we could have planned.