One thing that you may notice as you study the significant events in Jesus’ ministry is that very few of them were scheduled. For example,

  • Jesus was only passing through Samaria when he met the woman at the well. Some might call this a “chance encounter,” but it resulted in revival coming to the entire city of Sychar.
  • A woman’s son was raised from the dead in Luke 7 when he was carried out at the same time as Jesus was walking by the funeral party.
  • The Gadarene man was delivered of the Legion of evil spirits after he met Jesus on the shore.
  • Jairus’ daughter was raised from the dead after her father begged Jesus to come to his house.
  • On the way to Jairus’ house, the woman with the issue of blood was healed when she touched the hem of Jesus’ garment.
  • Bartimaeus received his sight when Jesus passed by where he was sitting by the side of the road.
  • Peter’s confession came as they were on their way to the towns of Caesarea Philippi.
  • Zacchaeus was saved after Jesus called to him as He was passing by.
  • And so on, and so on…

In each of these situations, Jesus was on his way to go somewhere else when this “interruption” in His schedule happened.

What we begin to realize is that we may schedule events that we consider significant, but God causes divine appointments to happen during the times in-between these scheduled events that many times turn out to be the real significant events in our lives. We must recognize that God works in the “in-between” times.

“In your heart you plan your life. But the Lord decides where your steps will take you.”—Proverbs 16:9

“Lord, I know that a man doesn’t control his own life. He doesn’t direct his own steps.”—Jeremiah 10:23

“The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD, And He delights in his way.”—Psalm 37:23

In March, 2005, I traveled to New Hampshire to attend a training class that would prepare me to teach a particular course. A group of believers had traveled from Scotland to attend that same class. As we visited with each other between sessions during this week-long class, I met Zach, Rick, and Heather. At one point, Zach, whose ministry was based in the UK, invited me to travel to St Andrews, Scotland, to participate with ministry teams that he directed during the CLAN Gathering Christian conference each summer. (CLAN is an acronym for “Christians Linked Across the Nation.”) After attending my first CLAN, I was hooked, and I went back again to participate the following year.

But things changed after that, and Zach moved on to other things and was no longer leading those ministry teams. At that point, I figured that my time there might be over because the teams might be turned over to someone who didn’t know me. However, the teams were turned over to Rick, who already knew me and who invited me to continue ministering with those teams the next year. After another year or two, team leadership again changed hands as Rick moved on to bigger responsibilities. This time, team leadership was entrusted to Heather, whom I had also met in the New Hampshire training class, and I continued to be invited back to help with this team of ministers.

Ironically, I no longer teach the course that I traveled to New Hampshire to be trained for, but I have made seven trips to Scotland, so far, to minister with my friends at CLAN Gathering events over the years.

So…what was God’s real purpose for the New Hampshire training class? In my mind, I was scheduling a time to be trained to teach a particular course. But God had other plans. In between sessions during that week of training, He arranged for me to connect with people who would open doors for me to minister in Scotland—doors that I could never have opened myself, no matter how much planning I did!

It was my attendance at the CLAN Gathering conferences that really brought this principle home to me, that God arranges appointments for us in between our scheduled events.

During the CLAN Gathering conferences, I attended many sessions taught by wonderful leaders. At the beginning of each session, I would start a new page in my notebook, writing the title of the session at the top of the page. But more than once, at the end of the session, I would look down at a blank piece of paper. I had written nothing in my notebook. But I would walk out of the session and have significant, memorable, encounters with people who I ended up writing about in my notebook at the end of the day.

It happened so often that the stark contrast was undeniable. At the end of the week, as I looked back, flipping through notes I had taken over the course of the week, the most significant events were the unplanned, unscheduled encounters I had with people in between the scheduled sessions.

Jesus’ life was like that. Most of the significant events in His ministry occurred in between scheduled events, as He was going from place to place. They were “interruptions” in His schedule. Our lives are like that, too. We just need to wake up to that fact.

This is God’s way—to work in between our scheduled events. As another example, God instructs us to use these “in-between” times wisely to teach His commandments to our children.

“You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.”—Deuteronomy 6:7 and 11:19 (NKJV)

Here, He specifically directs us to make use of times when we are sitting at home, when we are walking around, when we are lying down, and when we are rising up. He is purposely describing those times when we are in-between scheduled events—when we may have returned from one event and have some time before preparing for another event in our schedule.

If we will awaken to the fact that some of the most significant events in our lives and ministries will occur during the “in-between” times—between scheduled events—we can then live in alert anticipation of those events, more fully recognizing them when they happen, and more fully cooperating with what God is doing in our lives.