God Speaks through Circumstances

God does speak to us through the circumstances of our lives if we are willing to listen. He moved me from a career in the military to full time ministry to becoming a Christ following business owner. I would not have chosen what He has led us to on my own…I was always a ‘play it safe’ kind of guy. Ministry and start up businesses do NOT fall in that category.

In 2001 He called us to minister at the race tracks. By the end of 2006, JAMA had grown from 1 series to multiple with a dozen chaplains ministering at 60+ events a year. In late 2007, the economy had already started to take it’s toll on drag racing. Two of the organizations we ministered in shutdown removing more than 3/4 of the events from our schedule. By the end of 2008, there was only one group left and the Lord would have me step down as their chaplain to allow others to minister there. I really thought my days of doing His work in drag racing where over.

As we walked His path for our lives after 7 years in on track ministry, He lead us to start Dragstory.com. This was a complete direction change. With as many on line magazines as there were covering the sport, it did not make a lot of sense to us. However, His hand of provision was coupled with vision for a new type of on line publication. One based on images vs. the traditional written word.

Through Dragstory, we would get involved with a national level racing organization that led us to start streaming those races and eventually lead us to start MotormaniaTV.com. None of this was on my radar. The Lord used the circumstances of my life to orchestrate a future I had never seen in my own mind. Am I at the end of God’s work in my life? No, not even close. I suspect the path ahead will be just as interesting as the last 14 years. Time to strap in and hold on, it’s about to get interesting all over again!

Blessings

God Speaks through Circumstances
TGIF Today God Is First Volume 2 by Os Hillman

“As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed in a mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things” (Eccl 11:5).

God will often use circumstances in our lives to direct us in making and confirming decisions. I have often discovered this to be the case – but only after a situation has occurred. I later look back and see how God worked in the situation.

Years ago, I launched a magazine designed for Christians in the workplace and I was having lunch with a Christian leader named Larry who headed a ministry that helps men and women apply biblical principles to managing money.

During our lunch, I explained to Larry that I had noticed that there were many grassroots workplace ministries cropping up all over the country. I asked Larry if he was familiar with some of the groups since he had taught a course and wrote a book on operating a business on biblical principles. But he said he was not. He then asked, “It would be nice to know what all these groups are doing so we don’t duplicate efforts. Do you think you could invite some of these groups for a roundtable discussion?” I told him I would and I proceeded to invite four main workplace ministries that I had worked with in the past.

Then something unexpected began to happen. I began to get requests from ministries all around the country that had heard about the gathering and they were asking if they could attend the roundtable. By the time the event actually took place, 54 people showed up representing 45 organizations from around the country! Unfortunately, Larry had a last minute conflict and was not able to attend, and he informed me that I would have to host the meeting myself. That was the birth of Marketplace Leaders, the ministry I now lead full time. I often joke that God tricked me into starting this ministry because He knows I never would have done that on my own at that time.

God often confirms His direction through circumstances. Be on alert that when God sets up situations that are out of your control – He may be giving you direction through these circumstances.