God's Path versuses Our Path

by Shawn Lamb
(Nashville, Tennessee)

Everyone plans what they think is the path they should travel, whether in life, business or ministry. In fact, how many times have you heard the world's prevailing wisdom of making a 5 year or even 10 year plan of where you want to be in life.

How many life-coaches does one need to be content? The answer is ONE. James addressed this in his letter in James 4:13-15.

"Come now, you who say, Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit. Whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that. But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil."

The truth is, God's plan is often very different from ours.

I use myself as an example. For years I tried to get published for historical fiction - all Christian based stories, but seeking both secular and Christian publishers for wider distribution. Three times I nearly signed on the dotted line to reach my goal. But in God's plan, it wasn't time yet.

When my daughter, Briana, was in high school "Harry Potter" was just beginning to become the rage and kids eagerly devoured the books. We didn't feel it was a story we wanted her to read, and she wasn't into dark stories. However, she felt left out and one day came to me asking I write her a story like Narnia or Lord of The Rings, a good, old fashion moral story of heroes and knights. What parent with the capability would say "no"?

It wasn't until the next day when I sat down and began to think did I realize I had been so immersed in historical fiction, I didn't know the first thing about fantasy. Yes, we saw all the movie versions of the books she mentioned, but I hadn't read Narnia and Tolkien since I was kid.

The first thing I did was pray. In the middle of praying God reminded me of a folder holding a collection of writings from when I was younger. In and among those old papers was the beginning of a fantasy I called "Shiloh".

There was a map with 12 provinces, names of characters and even the first chapter. All written when I was 16 years old.

This was no coincidence of keeping papers for 30 years; this was God's timing. Needless to say, I was in awe. Briana was so excited at this discovery she told everyone at school her mom was writing her this great epic fantasy! Now, I had to live up to God's plan and my daughter's hype.

I began by changing the name from "Shiloh", meaning "peace" to "Allon", which means oak, a symbol of strength found in Scripture.

I diligently set about writing. I barely finished the second chapter when her friends started showing up at the house, filled with questions, advice and curiosity that a parent was actually doing this. Most of these kids came from refugee or immigrant families now living in Nashville. They came from Iraqi, Kenya, Somalia, Laos, Egypt, and Mexico.

All were from different religious and culture backgrounds, namely Muslim and Buddhist, with a couple of Coptic Christians and a Catholic thrown in - but all wanted and needed the same thing - hope!

In short order the conversations turned from my fictional story to their personal lives. Coming to American from poverty and/or war-torn countries, many had questions about the American way of life, the permissive society, along with wanting to know what Christians believed and why. Through these conversations I gave Christian counsel without demeaning their beliefs and learned the most desired need for them was hope.

What started out as a single book to fulfill my daughter's request soon turned into a series. I became driven by a passion to give these kids the hope they so desperately wanted. Since then, I have seen the path God always meant for me to take, but had to be prepare me. Just like Jesus' parables, through the gift of storytelling, I am able to bring kids the true and living hope.

Don't battle against God's change in plan or direction in your life, as He is the one who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all we ask or think, according to the power that works within us. (Eph. 3:20)

For more information on The Kingdom of Allon, please visit the website http://www.allonbooks.com