The Divine Crossing

When Jacob learned that there was grain in Egypt, he said to his sons, "Why do you just keep looking at each other?" …Go down there and buy some for us, so that we may live and not die." Then ten of Joseph's brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt…Now Joseph was the governor of the land, the one who sold grain to all its people. So when Joseph's brothers arrived, they bowed down to him with their faces to the ground…although Joseph recognized his brothers, they did not recognize him. Then he remembered his dreams about them... (Genesis 42:1-9)

It’s a moment of absolute clarity. It’s when everything makes perfect sense. It’s what I affectionately call the “divine crossing” of destiny. Like jet vapor trails in a azure summer sky this crossing creates the picture of personal purpose. It delivers the dream and sparks the story of where we originated, why we exist and where we’re headed. Divine crossings are the sky paintings of our lives. They provide hope, peace and insight.

Joseph’s divine crossing came years after pit and prison, accusation and abandonment, sabotage and slavery. As a boy he had a dream that one day his family would bend their knee to his will. It was a vision that vilified and victimized Joseph and proved to be a prophecy soaked in pain. His brothers robbed Joseph of coat and kin. Potiphar’s wife raped him with falsehood and framing. Years of exile in a foreign land and incarceration were the vapor trail of Joseph’s life, his reputation wrongly soiled and his integrity inappropriately stained. And even though Joseph eventually enjoyed the silver lining to these stormclouds that shaped him, he certainly still struggled with clarity. For a Jew nothing means more than heritage and family and Joseph was an island, cut off from his family and former life.

Then one fateful day, ten Israelite brothers appeared in his palace corner office begging for food. In this magical moment, years of life finally crossed. Joseph’s eyes opened as he recognized both his brothers and his Purpose. He remembered a dusty boyhood dream and his imaginations of Destiny. Joseph’s life finally made sense. It was a Divine Crossing. He knew why he was where he was.

Like vapor trails, our lives stretch across time and space. As we travel our worlds, we fight life’s storms and brave turbulent winds that batter our hopes. It’s hard to see what God is designing because we see only in part. We gaze out small portals and watch our lives waste away, seemingly without Purpose. We witness passing planes of friends and family that seem more blessed with financial resources, rich opportunity and emotional stability. We can’t see the horizon of where we’re headed (that view is only for the Captain). Life just moves us forward and we sit belted to our fears, dining on peanuts, and wishing we were somewhere or someone else.

But if we could simply step back, we’d see our lives, like vapor trails, are painting beautiful pictures. As they divinely cross, with plan and purpose, the sky spells out our name. If we could see what God sees (or even others), we’d recognize we were created for such a moment as this one. It’s when the irony becomes clarity. It’s when forgiveness and forgetfulness becomes blessing. It’s when our eyes recognize we’re part of something much bigger and better.

The stories of divine crossings are everywhere. An Iowa HyVee grocery stock boy, stuck in neutral and arena football, never passed on his vision for NFL greatness and one day Kurt Warner would pilot the upstart Rams to one of the greatest Super Bowl victories ever. A Colorado teenager vows to make a difference and as a result of her 1997 death at Columbine high school, Rachel Scott still changes lives through her anti-bullying testimony. It’s a small-town Sunday School teacher named Donna who saved my life as a renegade boy. Divine crossings are special moments where everything connects and, believe me, you may never see your trail until God calls you home.

The key is faithfulness to the Call. Someday we’ll all see the big picture. And for some of us, if we’re fortunate, like Joseph, we might enjoy a divine snapshot on this side of eternity just so we can recognize the cross really does make sense.

And how we are the pictures that point people toward God.

NOTABLE QUOTABLES ON CALLING AND DREAMS:

Every calling is great when greatly pursued. (Oliver Wendell Holmes)

Your profession is not what brings home your paycheck. Your profession is what you were put on earth to do. With such passion and such intensity that it becomes spiritual in calling. (Roman poet Virgil)

If you want to make your dreams come true, the first thing you have to do is wake up. (J.M. Power)

Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go. (T. S. Eliot)

The world is full of abundance and opportunity, but far too many people come to the fountain of life with a sieve instead of a tank car... a teaspoon instead of a steam shovel. They expect little and as a result they get little. (Ben Sweetland)

Father, I ask that you forgive my spiritual myopia, my selfish near-sightedness and my emotional blindness to recognize what You are doing in my life. I confess that my view is too limiting, too egotistical and too fearful and that means I rarely enjoy the bigger picture of what You have accomplished through my life and what You still seek to complete if I only remain faithful. Give my heart an unbending will to follow You unflinchingly. Give my eyes fresh insight to see the eternal. Give my hands and feet new strength to press on, lead forward and stand up to Your Call. Amen.