The reason for the Donkey Search

Mary’s and Joseph’s donkey probably is the most famous Bible burro, but not the only one.

Whenever I get to hear my colleague/ friend Dr. Howie Batson preach, he blesses me. Just as he did on a Lord’s day when some nasal crud made me stay home and miss church. Instead, on TV, I got to hear Howie preach his insightful message on young Saul’s lost-donkey search.

I’ve taught that same Bible event dozens of times, but Howie helped me see it from a new angle. He pointed out how God accomplished his purposes by putting that unsuspecting young man into circumstances Saul had no way to plan or orchestrate. Saul thought he was just hunting his dad’s lost burros, but God was sending him down that road to anoint him as king.

All the following week the light Howie lit for me that Sunday kept illuminating crevices in my own life. Over and over in the decades now past, God has led and prepared me for Kingdom roles, just as he guided Kish’s donkey-hunting son without Saul knowing it.

How could I have dreamed that even in my earliest years the Lord was teaching me people skills I would use in ministry for decades to come?

When God had me grow up next door to an Air Force colonel’s disciplined family, when he made our school principal my personal friend by positioning him as one of my paper route customers, when he arranged for me to fold my newspapers at 5 a.m. beside a huge, black, amiable veteran, or when he had me spend my thirteenth summer working for a German hardware store owner who treated me kindly but had precise expectations . . . and the list of similar encounters could go on and on.

I could list by name at least a dozen teachers who, in some important way, shaped my personality and thinking without me knowing it was happening. Add to that list at least a dozen pastors or church leaders. While going about their own duties, without knowing it, they trained and molded me.

When God put me in those situations or let me work alongside those special people, like Saul on the donkey chase, I saw not even a hint that he was getting me ready to serve him in countless circumstances I had no way to foresee.

What is the Lord doing today to get you ready for distant tomorrows?

Gene Shelburne may be addressed at 3516 Carlton Dr., Amarillo, TX 79109. or at GeneShel@aol. com. Get his books