The longer I live, the more I see God as a good Father who loves to gift his children with surprises. And recently he delivered a big one to us.

Nelson, our firstborn, has worked in Youth With A Mission (YWAM) for about a decade in a variety of locations and assignments, everything from pie-in-the-face youth activities to complicated teachings. Over the years, he’s also performed weddings, done baptisms, led worship sessions, and preached sermons.

But Part One of God’s Two-Part surprise didn’t begin with any of that. It all started with… a hernia operation.

Nelson had done more than his share of heavy lifting over the years, particularly in his landscaping business, and was badly in need of a repair. So the surgery took place in a small hospital on the island of Hawaii with an expected good result – as long as Nelson agreed not to lift anything heavier than 15 pounds.

Since his position with YWAM included lots of action and some unavoidable lifting, it seemed wise to recuperate away from all that, at his friend Derek’s home off campus. And it was during those 10 days that God unwrapped his surprise.

Derek’s family was in the process of making a big decision during those same 10 days – whether or not to move away from Hawaii to live in Colorado and pursue a worthwhile opportunity there. Derek has pastored a small but famous church on the Big Island for a decade (The Little Red Church) and Nelson has attended whenever possible, subbing in as the preacher now and then, when Derek has been away.

Hashing this over together during Nelson’s post-op days, Derek’s family, Nelson, and God all came to the same conclusion: it was indeed time for the family to move to the Mainland. What happened next surprised us all. I’ll let Nelson tell it:

“As I spent time with them, processing and thinking about how we as believers try to hear from and obey God, the logical question was, ‘Who will pastor the church when you leave?’ And almost as soon as I asked it, I felt a strong impression that it would be me… like God was challenging me to at least be willing.

“So I decided that if it were needed, and if it were possible, I’d do it. I wondered if I’d even qualify – never having been to seminary and not being ordained.”

And that ushered in Part One of God’s surprise, which was that he had prepared Nelson with a ready “yes” to becoming a pastor, if that’s what the Lord wanted. But God wasn’t finished yet.

Since I was already in Hawaii, Derek’s wife Heeran invited me for dinner one night while Nelson was still there recuperating, and Derek presented the surprising development that he was leaving and Nelson might take his place. “So… what do you think?” he said.

(…tomorrow, Part Two of the surprise)

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Do not lean on your own understanding.” (Proverbs 3:5)