God often writes necessary twists into our plots

I was thinking about the words below from Bob Goff this morning: "Don't give into fear just because life took an unpredictable turn."

Unpredictable turn? How many of you feel like that's an understatement right now?

Could we have imagined just a few weeks ago, gathered around the Christmas tree, opening gifts, Christmas carols soothing our souls in the background, that we'd be where we are today?

But it got me to thinking this morning. When Mary was holding the baby Jesus in the manger, could she have ever predicted holy week? Could she have ever foreseen that beautiful baby in a manger willingly marching toward a cross?

Could a mom holding her baby, feeling as overwhelmed with love for him, as many of us have felt for our own babies, could a mother imagine Christmas morning taking the unpredictable turn toward Good Friday?

How could she?

But there she was, watching that baby in a manger hanging on a cross - crucified and dying. Oh, how different the mom beneath the cross, looking up in horror at her dying son, had to feel compared to the mom staring adoringly down into the eyes of a baby in a manger.

But the beautiful thing to imagine - the beautiful thing to know - is oh how different the mom at the cross had to feel than the mom who got word that the tomb was suddenly empty.

Oh, Mary like each of us got busy writing her own story, her son's story, as she held that baby in a manger. But God in her life, like he so often does in the stories we write for our own lives, he wrote in an unpredictable turn. And we're like, God, I had such a good thing going here. Why'd you have to write in this whole virus scene?

With Holy Week, God is answering that question for us. He's telling us life has some crazy unpredictable turns in it. But God's also telling us, "trust my story." At the other end of even the ugliest and most unpredictable of turns, is a happy ending. (Romans 8:28).

It's hard to imagine it while marching toward Good Friday. But how many people marching toward Good Friday saw Easter coming?