wear a helmet

Sunday April 3^rd, 1 Samuel 16: 1 God addressed Samuel: "So, how long are you going to mope over Saul? You know I've rejected him as king over Israel. Fill your flask with anointing oil and get going. I'm sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem. I've spotted the very king I want among his sons."  Things just weren’t working out as planned.  Israel wanted a king like all the other nations and now that they had a king, and he turned out to be a….. well, king.  We too have our plans and ideas about how things should be.  Lord knows I have gone down that road time and again in my life.  I think I know and understand the Lord, I get up a head of steam, take off full throttle and wham!!!!!!! into a brick wall.  It is usually after I pick myself up from hitting the brick wall several times that I finally stop following my own lead.  It is then I start to listen to the Lord, look around and find the open door and the Lord who is calling me in a direction I didn’t even know was a direction and I get back on the path.  How does the Lord lead you?  Is it with gentle breezes and a still small voice, or is it with a bruised forehead and bruised ego?  I think the bruised forehead and ego comes from too much “me” in the equation.  I pray that someday I will hear the still small voice, until then I think maybe I should wear a helmet.