I don’t have many early childhood memories, but one is me sitting on the couch looking out the window, I think waiting for my sister to get home. We hadn’t moved into town yet, so it was before I was in first grade.

The garbage truck came around, and I watched with fascination as the collectors effortlessly jumped on and off the moving vehicle. And I thought: that’s what I want to do when I grow up!

Instantly I “knew” that wasn’t going to happen. I was going to have a national leadership position with the MB church. I say “knew” in quotes because at that time I had no concept of the Holy Spirit speaking to me. So I didn’t know how I knew, I just knew. And I was so convinced that I not only remembered it, but never doubted.

Fast forward to early married life, and I still felt MB, but I went to a Baptist church in Victoria, Alliance in Abbotsford, and Brethren and Pentecostal during university. Heather grew up Anglican, got saved at a Pentecostal horse camp, and discipled in a Lutheran youth group. We helped plant a Baptist church, then I became an elder at an independent charismatic church.

It was at that point I realized I was no longer MB! I remember praying something like, “If there’s a way to learn or experience something for a while, and then somehow bless the MB’s, I would love to go back and do that.”

22 years later, I found myself having lunch with my cousin Gord Fleming, who was leading a church planting network, asking him what I should do with my life. When he said I should work for Multiply (MB Mission at the time) I immediately thought of those events 44 years ago, and knew that God was in this. He sent one text and the interview process began.

By this time we had helped plant a church in Vancouver with Every Nation. When I told my pastor, he thought it was great, basically quoting back my prayer about bringing a blessing back to the MB’s. I don’t remember ever talking with him about my MB upbringing before.

So the route I took into this wonderful ministry job was circuitous. Different denominations, yes. But also switching from business to ministry to community development and back again several times, working both locally and globally. I didn’t know anyone when I joined Multiply.

Now let me backtrack a bit, and talk about providence. The road I took went through a chance encounter with my cousin. But here’s what’s interesting. I had considered other options along the way….

When I graduated from high school, I wanted to go to the MB seminary in Fresno, California. My mom observed (with unfortunate accuracy) that I already struggled a bit with social skills. She said if I went straight to seminary I might not recover. Better to do something else first.

It turns out that about a dozen of the senior leaders I work with today attended that seminary at that time. It was a very special group of students there who all received a heart for mission. If I had gone there, it seems likely I would have got here.

Another interesting moment was when I got offered the Executive Pastor job at a large MB church. Without going into detail, given who the senior leaders were at that church, again there’s a really good chance I would’ve ended up here.

That got me thinking: can God handle any of our random choices and still get us to where he wants us to be? Of course, biblically, that’s true:

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. – Romans 8:28

But at some other level it’s so freeing. Mistakes seem less costly if our Father can make it all work out. I feel so loved.