When we were preparing for our musical mission trip to Paris, which I wrote about earlier, our music minister warned us before signing up for the trip. He told us that we absolutely had to be flexible on this trip. We would not know all the details ahead of time, and things might change at any minute. He had been working on plans with his French counterparts for a long time, but even they couldn’t plan everything ahead of time. Regulations (about where we could be when) might change with no notice, issues with the refugees might create chaos, and transportation for our large group in such a busy city as Paris would be tricky. Flexibility, along with the ability to walk everywhere, was the key criteria for participation.
I remember multiple times when we were just told to follow, and we would all line up (more or less), carrying our music and instruments, and follow some unknown person at the head of the line, and eventually end up where we were supposed to be. I had the additional issue of sometimes not having my instrument with me and trusting that it would show up at the same place. Since it was a very expensive cello I had borrowed, and our belongings were sometimes stuck on a hot bus for hours, I traded the cello off with our French colleagues, and they kept it safe for me until I needed it.
Our adventures reminded me of so many people discussed in the Bible who just got up and went where God told them to go. Elijah, in 1 Kings, often is told to go here or there, and he did. In Matthew 2, the wise men from the East went in search of the baby Jesus, trusting that they would find Him eventually. And the soon-to-be disciples got up and followed Jesus when He told them to, leaving their livelihoods behind. What examples for us, in our overly planned lives!
As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” At once they left their nets and followed him. When he had gone a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets. Without delay he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him.
Mark 1:16-20