My daughter got married last summer and moved to Sidney on Vancouver Island. They have a nice little rental house just a few blocks from the ocean and only 3 minutes from the Victoria Swartz Bay ferry terminal. Debbie and I enjoy going over to visit them.

Heading where?!

A few weeks ago we finished a very stressful week at work and left after school on Friday to catch the 6pm ferry and ‘walk on’ to save some money. We got to Tsawwassen nice and early, parked our car, got on the shuttle and walked onto the ferry.

All day long I had been looking forward to a White Spot hamburger on the ferry. We sat down with our dinner, felt the ferry leave the dock as I took a big bite of my hamburger and then listened to the captain say, “Good evening, ladies and gentlemen and welcome to the Spirit of Nanaimo. Our travel time today to Nanaimo is one hour and forty minutes.” 

I looked up at Debbie and said, “Did he just say Nanaimo? Because we’re going to Victoria.” Debbie and I had walked onto the wrong ferry.

I could not believe it.

I actually stopped a steward and asked whether we really were going to Nanaimo and she assured us that we were. 

There was no turning back.

We thought we were going to Victoria. But we were sincerely believing in the wrong thing.

I phoned Karly and asked her, “You don’t mind picking us up at the ferry terminal right?”

She said, “No problem Dad, it’s only three minutes from our house.” 

“Yeah, about that. We’re on a ferry to Nanaimo so you may want to leave right about now to come and get us. I think we still may beat you to the ferry terminal,” I replied.

I sat there for an hour and forty minutes thinking about how we could possibly have gotten on the wrong ferry.

Life is a lot like that. 

Beyond your wildest dreams

As I watch our grads get ready for commencement next week I am fully aware that many of them have no idea that they are sincerely believing in the wrong thing. They think that they can control all aspects of the life ahead that awaits them. They think that the path they have planned will actually occur the way they have planned it. They think that the experiences they’ve had during their school years will never be forgotten.

But one day, in the not so distant future, they will realize that this isn’t the way life works.

God has plans for us in our futures that we can’t possible imagine or plan for.

His faithfulness, grace, and steadfast love for us is sufficient for all of life’s twists and turns.

And there will be twists and turns.

Our prayer for our grads is that they will sincerely believe in the right thing as they leave ACS and experience whatever God has planned for each one of them.

I’m pretty sure I’ll never get on the wrong ferry again. But I’m also sure that I’ll do something equally dumb, eventually.

I just hope I have the grace to accept the plans that God has for me and trust in his love, no matter where I end up. And we have the same prayer for our grads.