“You’ll See!”

As I described in my last post, I began a new morning Bible reading routine in 2026. This morning, my Bible reading was from 2 Kings 5:1-27 when Elisha heals Naaman. The question I was asked to reflect on was:

One of my colleagues has described the Christian life as “living by God’s surprises.” Has God ever surprised you?

Here is my response:

What comes to mind to me as I ponder this question is that Philip’s colleague is right. Life is filled with God surprises exploding all around us. From the beauty and magnificence of nature to the simple kindness of friends to unexpected bursts of divine glory in my everyday life, God is at work. My problem is that I am a dull boy. I don’t see it. I miss it. It makes me think of Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s famous poem:

Earth's crammed with heaven,
And every common bush afire with God,
But only he who sees takes off his shoes;
The rest sit round and pluck blackberries.

I think far too often I “sit round and pluck blackberries.” The culprit behind my gloomy, muted living is my obsession with productivity. The mantra “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy” is on full display through me. I tend to embody my “project list” more than living a Spirit-breathed God-awareness. My drift is to live small rather than living large with a robust attentiveness to the surprises of Father. I have to wonder if my Abba is like the Dad who creatively sets up situations to bring delight to his children.

Our best vacation ever was when our boys were little and we planned for them “The Great Mystery Vacation.” We did not tell them where we were going, how we would get there or even what to pack. When Mike Sullivan drove us to the airport, we drove past the cruise port and the boys shouted, “Are we going on a cruise?” And we responded, “You’ll see.” When we arrived at the airport, we did not sit at any specific gate but in a common area and the boys kept guessing which plane we might board. “Are we flying to Atlanta?” “You’ll see.” We boarded the flight to Dallas, and they asked, “Are we going to Dallas?” We responded again with “You’ll see.” This went on and on until we landed in Seattle and spend a glorious week making memories with our boys.

My Abba has given me the privilege of living like Daniel and Nathan on “The Great Mystery Vacation.” He invites me to live leaning forward on the edge of my seat with a hopeful anticipation to see what he will surprise me with next. My Father says to me over and over again with a twinkle in his eye, “You’ll see.”

The Acevedo Family in Seattle, 1996