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Key Bible Verse: God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them (Romans 8:28).Bonus Reading: Isaiah 42:16

For the first nine months of 1996, with attendance averaging 25, the group I pastored—National Community Church—met in a public school.

Then the person in charge of leasing the DC schools left a voicemail: Due to fire code violations, the school we met in was being closed. We were about to become a homeless church! On September 27 I wrote in my journal, "I feel like we've been backed into a corner."

We explored rental options on Capitol Hill. Only one door opened: the movie theaters at Union Station. Looking back, I can't imagine a more strategic location. More than 25 million people pass through the station every year. It's served by a subway system, bus stop, and parking garage. There are 40 food-court restaurants right outside our theater marquee.

God perfectly positioned us. Now, doing church in the middle of the marketplace is part of our DNA. Our long-term vision is to meet in movie theaters at metro stops throughout the DC area. But it took a setback—a 500-pound opportunity disguised as a daunting problem—to get us where God wanted us to go.

—Mark Batterson in In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day

My Response: Could a setback I'm facing be reframed as an opportunity?

Thought to Apply: Often God has to shut a door in our face so that He can subsequently open the door through which He wants us to go.—CATHERINE MARSHALL (author)

Adapted from In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day (Multnomah, 2006) by permission.

Copyright © 2007 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity magazine.Click here for reprint information on Men of Integrity.

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Prayer for the Week

Help me, Lord, not to fret or fume about troubles, but to accept them as part of Your plan for the ultimate good of Your kingdom—and me.

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