God of the Random

p style=”text-align: center;”img src=”http://www.goingbeyond.com/sites/default/files/blog/Picture%2020_3.png” alt=”Ceiling dome with clouds” title=”ceiling dome with clouds” width=”500″ height=”329″ class=”mceItem”/p
pAs an artist, one of the things that I try to mimic is the randomness that is found in nature. It’s very easy to accidentally paint a rosebush with evenly spaced roses, like a checkerboard. Or clouds that look like perfect cotton balls. I have to consciously think “random” when making something look like real marble, otherwise the veins come out looking like latticework. It’s a human tendency, not just in art, to make patterns out of things. To space things out evenly. To have exact balance./p
pOur eyes naturally tell us what looks “right.” While we yearn for balance, what looks “right” in nature is often unruly, UNbalanced and untamed. It’s the unexpected bloom on a plant that spills over a trellis, the swaying leaves of a gnarled tree, and clouds that look like someone took a giant brush and scattered them across the sky. That’s what makes those things beautiful – and difficult to recreate./p
pPatterns, predictable repeats – that’s easy to do. And let’s be honest, boring./p
pRandom, free-flowing designs – that’s hard. But infinitely beautiful and fascinating./p
pI love how God refuses to be put into a “box” of predictability. Oh, sure, he is predictable in his righteousness, his holiness and his faithfulness. But just when you think you have his patterns figured out, he does something surprising. emRandom/em./p
pspan style=”white-space: pre;” /spanHe puts someone in your path that will have an impact on your life – or vice versa./p
pspan style=”white-space: pre;” /spanHe allows a trial in your life you never thought would be part of your experience./p
pspan style=”white-space: pre;” /spanHe delights you with an unexpected blessing./p
pspan style=”white-space: pre;” /spanHe puts a burden on your heart for a ministry you’d never considered before./p
pspan style=”white-space: pre;” /spanHe causes your Bible to fall open to the very scripture you were thinking of…right at that moment./p
pspan style=”white-space: pre;” /spanHe answers a prayer of yours – 10 years after you prayed it./p
pspan style=”white-space: pre;” /spanHe suddenly grabs your attention and speaks to your heart in the middle of Walmart./p
pGod is untamed, wild and unpredictable. We can know him and yet NOT know how he will choose to reveal himself in the “everyday rhythms of our lives,” as Priscilla often says. /p
pHe is the God of the random, and it’s what makes him infinitely beautiful and fascinating./p
pemPs. 92:5 How great are your works, O LORD, how profound your thoughts!/em/p
pRachel/p
pHow has God surprised you? Have you ever experienced a “random” event that only He could orchestrate?/p