Another cop left the force – but – it’s astonishing how it happened! 

Brent Brantley always thought that he would be a police officer.  But at age 31 he suffered a critical gunshot wound to the head in the line of duty.  He was not expected to survive.  If he did, it would be in a vegetative state.

In his darkness he reached out to the Lord, remembering Bible verses he had learned as a child.  He tried to say them out loud.  Over 18 months he miraculously regained his speech and a good measure of functionality.   Of greater value, he had come into a deep personal relationship with the Lord.

He was required to seek a new line of work. This just wasn’t in his plans for his life.  He was clueless about his future.  Eventually he went back to school with the intention of becoming a counselor.

He was near to graduation day when at the school library, he noticed a pamphlet about Bible translation.  He picked it up and began reading but was interrupted by a fellow student.  He put it back in the rack and visited with him.

As they walked out together Brent stepped on something which stuck to his shoe. It was the very same pamphlet. There was no trash can handy, so he stuck it in his pocket and went home.

That evening he found the paper in his pocket and began to curiously read it.  It told of the need for every person to have the Bible in their own tongue.  He understood.  After all, it was the Scripture that turned his life around. 

He sensed that this was all God’s doing, so Brent signed up with the Wycliffe Bible Translators and served his Savior as a missionary in the South Pacific among a stone age people.   

This story is quite amazing.  It is an illustration of a truth that Solomon penned in the book of Proverbs.  He wrote, “A person plans his course, but the Lord directs his steps.” – Prov 16:9

Brent had a plan for his life, but God was sovereignly managing his situation and directing his actual steps.

The variables are mind boggling.  Brent took brief notice of a pamphlet in the library.  He put it back to talk to a friend. 

Someone else thought that the floor of the library was a good place to leave a pamphlet.  And Brent followed a divinely planned path that caused him to step precisely on the pamphlet which adhered to his shoe for some reason.   Everyone else managed to avoid stepping on it – except for Brent.

He ripped it off and wanted to discard it but could not find a convenient trash can so it was still there where in the stillness of his home he could really read it.

And it changed the course of his life. 

How cool and comforting to know that our amazing God is at work in the specific circumstances of our lives to take us to a good, good place.

But don’t hurt yourself trying to understand it.  Solomon also wrote, “The steps of a person are ordained by the Lord – so how can anyone understand his own way?” – Proverbs 20:24

Honestly there are so many things that happen that are beyond our control: the company merger that eliminated your job; the prognosis from the doctor; the plunge in the economy; the loss of the college scholarship and even the new boss. 

But – we can keep moving forward through all the uncertainty knowing that our loving God is guiding us along whether we can sense it or not.   

PS: Brent Brantley is now a retired missionary but quite active with a pen.  He has written an excellent Christian suspense thriller: “You Cannot Grasp the River” A second is due out the summer of 2023 “Summer of the Waxman” (available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble)

A PRAYER: Lead on O King Eternal. Your plan for me is so much better than my own.

This has been Jim Johnson and pickleheavenpress.com

May the grace of our Lord Jesus be with you

Scripture references are from the NETBible.org