“How did you get into the guide business?”, I asked. Chuck responded, “I was born into it.” That’s a tidbit of a conversation I had recently with Chuck McMahan. Chuck, and his wife Sandy, own and operate Gakona Guide Service in Alaska. Deb and I were introduced to them by our mutual friend Diane (Dede) Duntze.
“I was born into it” was a statement that really stood out to me. It’s something I’ve pondered at various times in my life. It has caused me to ask the question: Why?
Why was I born into a mining family in Benton, Wisconsin, and Chuck born into a hunting guide family in Alaska? Who ordered this to happen? It’s not that I’m jealous. Being born in Alaska and being a hunting guide sounds adventurous. However, I’m not sure I would have been tough enough for it. Maybe that’s it. Maybe God decided that I’d be born where was born when I was born because He was making me too much of a wimp to be born in Alaska.
As I sat with church families in Kenya, who treated me to chicken soup poured over rice, I asked this same question. Why was I born in America and these people born in Kenya? They pooled their resources to bless me with a special meal. I wondered how many times these precious souls had gone without a meal in their lifetime. There was nobody overweight! As I gladly ate whatever they served, I was reminded that during my lifetime I always had food to eat. And lots of it. Too much of it. Unless I decided to fast or if I had a stomach bug, I had never gone a day without food on my plate. Why? I don’t know. Maybe God knew He was making me too much of a wimp to be born in Kenya.
Obviously, people made choices before I entered the world which helped determine where I’d be born. My great-grandparents chose to leave England and go to the United States for better opportunities. But very few people in Kenya had choices. They didn’t have school choices, career choices, or even, most likely, marriage choices. They chose survival and hoped tomorrow they would have enough to eat.
As I ponder these questions and consider the choices my forefathers made, I’m reminded that my great-grandfather didn’t choose to be born in England. Just like my Kenyan pastor friend’s great-grandfather didn’t choose to be born in Kenya. Just like Chuck’s great-grandfather didn’t choose to be born wherever he was born.
I suppose some will think my pondering these questions is a waste of time. Maybe it would be for some people. But for me, these questions motivate me toward some good things.
The first good thing is that I’m motivated toward Heaven. There’s only one Way to get there and it’s through Jesus Christ. So, I’ve trusted Christ by turning control of my life over to Him. By doing this He promises me everlasting life in the presence of God the Father.
John 14:6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
So I have some “why” questions for God that I know He will answer when I arrive to my eternal home in Heaven.
The next good thing is that pondering these things has caused me to be overwhelmed with thankfulness. Even though I don’t know why I do know that I’m no more deserving to have food on my plate every day than those brothers and sisters in Kenya. When I was with some pastors in Kenya, I told them that I was feeling guilty knowing I have so much to eat back home while they have so little. They said, “Don’t feel guilty. Just remember to thank the One who is providing it to you.”
James 1:17 Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens. He never changes or casts a shifting shadow.
The final good thing these questions have caused me to do is to be what God wants me to be wherever He puts me. God calls. We respond - “Yes or No”. I know that God has made me who I am, He has put me in this place, in these times, for His good purposes. Not for my happiness. Not for my pleasure. Not to waste away the years until my departure. I’m here to fulfill what God created me to do. However, one thing worth noting is this: I do get the bonus of happiness and pleasures. I even get to rest and just sort of sit around once in a while. But my purposes and your purposes belong to God when we respond with “Yes”.
Ephesians 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Kris Kristofferson asked the question - Why Me Lord? He went on to ask, “What have I ever done to deserve even one of the pleasures I’ve known”. For me, I’m looking forward to hearing the answer to that question, and many other questions, one day when I’m face to face with my Savior.
Maybe God will say, “Welcome Wimp. Now let me give you answers to all your ‘Whys’”.
