My first encounter with God was in the Fall of 1990. I was a 15 year old freshman in high school and my best friend Sarah had invited me to her church for a lock-in. If I’m being honest, I’ll tell you I went for the boys. But God met me there. Or more accurately, I met God there.

There was a man in his late 20’s who spoke to us that night. I’m sure he said many wonderful things, but I only remember one thing. He told a story of being in college and having a professor who didn’t believe in God. He was singled out in the class and challenged. He was the only believer in the room, or at least the only believer bold enough to stand up to the professor. The professor held a raw egg in his hand and said, “is your God strong enough to keep this egg from breaking if I drop it on the floor?” The student said yes, my God can keep the egg from breaking. So the professor dropped the egg. The egg didn’t even crack.

The next day, my friend Sarah and I were picked up from the Church lock-in by my parents and all we were concerned about was if my mom had eggs in the refrigerator. We went through an entire dozen of eggs that day, each one meeting the fate of a hard tile floor. We would say, “we believe, we believe, we believe” then it would shatter and we would say, “darn it, I knew it would break.” What a mess we made.

I never could drop an egg without it breaking. I’ve never tried again. Do you know why, because a few months after that first introduction to God, I met his son Jesus. I asked him to come into my heart and change me and save me. And since that day, life has never been the same.

I’ve had plenty of quote-unquote “eggs” break since then. Plans blow up in my face. Major let downs and setbacks. Hardships I never imagined came our way. Real life messes I found myself in the middle of. Yet, the one thing remained. My God, the same God who didn’t let that speaker’s egg break, was guiding my life. He could be trusted.

Psalm 37: 23-24 says “The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives. Though they stumble, they will never fall, for the Lord holds them by the hand.”

Every step, God has been directing you. Now the truth is, we don’t always follow his direction. Lord knows sometimes we are defiant with a spirit of rebellion and we run off in the wrong direction, missing out on God’s plan. However our God is so big and so gracious, ever meeting us right where we are, offering guidance back to his best plan for our lives. He never gives up on us, and he never gives up on our children, and that brings me tremendous hope. No matter how far we may stray, no matter how far down the wrong path we may roam, no matter how jacked up our choices may be and how wrong we may be living, HE CAN FIX THIS! What’s your mess? Where are your broken eggs? He will not only fix it, he will redeem it. He will use it all for good.

And all this time, in my messes and mistakes, what I didn’t realize is God has been delighting in every detail of my life. Did you know God has been not only watching over your every detail, but he has been taking delight in the details of your life? What you see as a mess, God sees as an opportunity to make himself known. All the times you have stumbled, God has picked you up and held you in his hand. Nothing has been wasted here. Nothing. He’s using it all.

I want you to look back over the last 10, 20 years of your life. Can you see how God has guided you? Can you see how He has used every broken egg to sustain you? Can you see scrambled eggs?

We want the unbroken egg. The egg that survived the fall without a crack. But God wants to break that egg wide open … do you know why? So you can be fulfilled. So you can grow. So you can get better. Have you ever tried to eat an egg still in it’s shell? I didn’t think so! God breaks your life wide open so that you can EXPERIENCE it. So you can be filled. So you can grow stronger. God gives us scrambled eggs.

Eggs were never meant to be consumed in the shell … lives were never meant to be lived in a shell. God has to break us open and allow some things to fall apart for us to grow into the BIG Life we were created to LIVE. Your life was never given to you with the intention of it remaining small in a protected shell where nothing ever changes. Breaking is part of the process of life. If you’re living, you’re breaking.

The question today is, do you trust God? Do you trust him with your dozen of eggs? Your hopes, your dreams, your goals, your children, your plans, your career, your future? Will you trust him even when they get scrambled?

I don’t always understand God’s ways. Quite honestly over the past few years I’ve had my moments of questioning him. I’ve had my fair share of shouting matches with God. Then I’ve given him the ol’ silent treatment. Have you ever given God the silent treatment? Maybe that’s where you are now. You’re so angry at him, so confused by his ways that you’re just not going to talk to him until he straightens up. I’m so glad God can always out wait me. Through it all I’ve learned I don’t have to understand, and honestly there are some things I will never understand this side of Heaven, and when I get there I want to have a talk with him about a few things. I imagine that talk will go something like “God, WHY, why did you allow this.” And he’ll give me a one second glimpse at how he took what I could only see as bad and used it for an eternity of good and I’ll say “Oh, now I feel stupid. Sorry I was being a jerk about that.”

So I’ve just decided I’m going to try my best to stop being a jerk about it here on earth. I don’t understand why God allows the eggs to break sometimes when he could easily stop it. He sees this big ol’ mess, and is still God over it. God sure loves those scrambled eggs, so I’ll just trust him. How about you?

Have you had a personal encounter with your God? Have you met his son? Has he changed your life? He can. He’s waiting. All you have to do is seek him.

And I have found seeking God isn’t a one time thing. It’s not a “pray this prayer” and you’re all squared away. Seeking God is a daily choice. Will you seek God today? Will you present your eggs to God and ask him what he wants you to do with them? And if he lets them break, will you just enjoy the scrambled eggs?