As a kid, I remember great family vacations. Dad would always drive, Mom would be in the front seat with him, and we three kids filled up the back seat of the old 1949 Chevy sedan. And yes…there were those times my mom would have to say, “Don’t make me come back there!” Or my dad would sternly say over his shoulder while zipping down the two-lane road, “Do you want me to pull this car over to the side of the road?” We never answered “yes.”

On occasion, my dad would say, “If you see a root beer stand, I’ll stop.” The prospect of getting a frosty soft drink was a delight to our ears. However, I remember thinking, “I haven’t seen a root beer stand for days. We’ll never stop.”

Guess what? It wasn’t long before we would enter a small town and one of the three of us kids would yell, “Look, Dad. A root beer stand!” Sure enough. We had found what we were searching for. As I look back, I realize we had probably passed many root beer stands. But until we were actually focused on looking…searching…for those stands did we actually find them.

I thought of those days as I read a recent devotional from Lead Like Jesus. In it, the writer talked about fulfilling God’s purpose.

“What does it mean for you to live today in light of God’s purpose? As if every person you encounter is valuable to God. As if your interaction with people holds the potential to demonstrate the reality of a living, personal God who cares about them. As if God were orchestrating events to bring about His purposes in this time and place. What difference would this make?”

If I am not careful, many days I can go along, focused on what I am doing in ministry and with family, and miss what the Lord has for me as part of His purpose…His plan. There are people whom God has placed with you in ministry. What would the Lord have you do or say that would keep them moving forward toward all that God wants them to be? Or are you more interested in what they accomplish to fulfill your plan and schedule?

Most of us as leaders in ministry sense the urgency of accomplishing things for the Lord. But in that urgency, do we overlook God’s overarching purpose and plan? Like us kids in the back of that 1949 Chevrolet sedan, we can be happily zipping down the highway and miss something.

So, what is God’s purpose and plan? The Apostle Paul passed that wisdom on to young Timothy:

He [God] is the one who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not based on our works but on his own purpose and grace, granted to us in Christ Jesus before time began…

2 Timothy 1:9 NET

I don’t recall a single time when Dad mentioned getting a root beer that we kids replied, “No, thanks. There aren’t any stands here. We haven’t seen any. Let’s just go on.” No, we became focused on the thought of something exciting and refreshing…and it caused us to look intently down the road to find what we were looking for.

Do you think what the Lord has for you today is better than anything you could do for Him? Would you rather hope to please our heavenly Father, or do what He has already planned for His purpose in our lives? Which do you think would be the most satisfying…the most refreshing?

The devotional I read closed with this prayer:

“Lord, lift my eyes from the daily tasks that fill my day so that I re-focus on Your purpose and grace. Then let me look at the people with whom I interact through Your eyes and help me to accomplish Your purposes in what I do and say. May my life reveal Your life to them as I serve them in Jesus’ name, I pray, Amen.”

God’s best…