In the Belly of a Big Fish

When I finished High School in 1966, I went to the summer session at Young Harris College which put me a quarter ahead.  Thus, instead of finishing at the end of Spring quarter 1968, I finished at the end of Winter quarter.  Since YHC was a junior college, I had to make a decision about going to another college to get my degree.  While it may sound strange to some, I felt strongly that God was leading me to Asbury College in Kentucky.  So, I went to Georgia Southern College.  I did not want to go to Asbury so my Georgia Southern quarter was my "Jonah in the belly of the big fish" experience.  I had the best academic quarter of my college years, but was miserable so in the fall of 1968 I went kicking and complaining to Asbury College in Kentucky.

 

I cannot imagine how my life would have been had I not made the decision to choose obedience even though it was not what I wanted.  I met the woman I would marry.  I was present and transformed by the Asbury Revival of 1970.  Those two things alone greatly shaped both my personal life as well as my spiritual life.  Those two years at Asbury prepared me for the future in ways I am not sure would have happened in any other place.  God knew what he was doing when He started pushing me in that direction.

 

I sometimes wonder how many times I have missed the leading of God.  Some of those moments are rather obvious, but I suspect there are far many more that I just missed because my heart was bent on going in a different direction.  God leads us throughout our life, but He never pushes to the point that we cannot choose to say "No."  Always He respects our choices.