In recent years, a popular trend for people my age has been to make a bucket list, an inventory of everything one hopes to do before dying. For example: travel to Paris, take piano lessons, conquer a fear of flying, learn a new language.

I don’t have a bucket list but do have the flip side of that, a mental record of all the things I hope not to do, things like trying to run through a plate glass window. Regretfully, I checked that off yesterday.

It wasn’t that I didn’t have a reason. I’d accidentally left my debit card sticking out of the ATM machine at the bank and 30 minutes later realized it. Racing back with the hope it would still be there, my heart sank when it wasn’t.

And that’s where the I-hope-not list got checked. Racing toward the glass double doors of the bank, I paid no attention to the recent remodeling that had made a set of double doors into one door and one panel of glass. When I bolted into the panel, it didn’t open even an an inch.

Immediately I got the chance to experience item #2 on the I-hope-not list: a split lip.

As soon as the stars cleared, I walked through the real door and into the bank, embarrassed by what had happened. But unbeknownst to me, my lip was dripping blood, and the teller’s face showed alarm. But she handed me my card without comment, so I smiled (ouch), and headed for the car’s visor-mirror (ugh).

Sometimes we rush through life at such break-neck speeds we don’t see what God is trying to show us. Maybe it’s a piece of guidance he wants to give or a new idea, possibly an important chiding or a practical interpretation of Scripture. If he considers it valuable enough and we still can’t see it, he might let us run right into it.

We may even end up with the spiritual version of a split lip, a blast of circumstances that hurts deeply. The reason behind them may not be visible, but being forced to endure them can be tantamount to a blast of unanticipated pain that shocks the system and leaves damage behind. But how can we prepare for what’s invisible?

We trust the One behind it.

Once we commit our lives to the Lord, whatever comes after that is part of his grand plan whether we see it coming or not. We can be sure we’ll encounter both the good and the bad, the honorable and dishonorable, split profits and split lips. The reality is, if it happens, we needed it.

My split lip is unsightly, but eventually it’ll heal and disappear. As a result of my I-hope-not experience, I’m fairly sure I’ll never miss “seeing” that invisible sheet of glass again, which is why a split lip can actually be a good thing.

But then again, I just might decide to stick with the bank’s drive-through.

“Though you have not seen him, you love him.” (1 Peter 1:8)