Square Pegs & Round Holes
Wednesday, October 11, 2023
“It is not our job to create our own plans. It is not our job to hold on to the way things used to be. It is our job to join God in what He is doing.” – Rev. Greg Sempsrott
Have you ever tried to pound a square peg into a round hole?
After 24 years as founder and executive director of The Saints Prison Ministry, I relocated to Vero Beach FL along with Deanna and our three (then single) children to launch Risk Takers for Christ. My desire was to spend more time speaking and writing, gifts that I believe God gave me and that He wants – and expects – me to use for His glory.
However, within a year or so, I was once again leading sports teams into prisons throughout Florida, Kentucky, South Carolina, and Kenya. God blessed those trips, sometimes even more than when I was with the Saints, but it became harder and harder to recruit enough players to staff our basketball and softball squads. And so, we made the difficult decision to discontinue the prison ministry aspect of Risk Takers for Christ and to focus on our core outreach to at-risk youth, the daily devotionals that we publish, and our new church plant, Midway Bible Fellowship.
Today, 12 years after leaving New Jersey, guess what I am doing? That’s right… speaking and writing! God has also allowed me to keep my hand in sports ministry through our Living H2O Initiative, but the majority of my time is spent exercising the communication skills that He gave me.
Funny how that works out, isn’t it? Even though we tend to take detours in life – me, more than most – He always manages to reroute us and to get us to our final destination… right on schedule.
“A man’s heart plans his way, but the LORD directs his steps.” Proverbs 16:9 (NKJV)
“Behold, I am about to do something new; even now it is coming. Do you not see it? Indeed, I will make a way in the wilderness and streams in the desert.” Isaiah 43:19 (BSB)
“And I am sure of this, that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” Philippians 1:6 (ESV)
- Rev. Dale M. Glading, President
