There Is Hope for Screw Ups

“Shattered dreams often lead to a world-impacting destiny.” – Os Hillman

When Joseph was lying in the pit, waiting for his brothers to either kill him or sell him into slavery, he had no idea what awaited him. The same goes for when he was serving as a slave in Potipher’s house after which he was imprisoned on trumped-up charges. Never in his wildest dreams could Joseph had imagined that God was using these hardships to prepare him to become prime minister of Egypt, in which capacity he would save the lives of millions of people including his own family.

Moses, once a prince in Pharaoh’s palace but now a humble shepherd in the Midian desert, experienced a similar fate. He was as high as a man could be only to be brought as low as a man could go. And yet, God used this murderer-on-the-run to lead His people out of bondage, through 40 years of wandering in the wilderness, and to the very precipice of the Promised Land.

Chuck Colson traveled a similar path. A special counsel to President Richard Nixon, he got caught up in the Watergate scandal and was convicted of obstruction of justice in the Daniel Ellsberg (Pentagon Papers) case. Sentenced to 1-3 years in federal prison, Colson emerged after seven months a new man. Not only had he trusted Jesus Christ as his Savior prior to his incarceration, but God had a new assignment for Colson that had nothing to do with politics.

In 1976, Colson founded Prison Fellowship, which today is the largest prison ministry in the world. He also wrote more than 30 books including his best-selling autobiography Born Again and such Christian classics as Loving God, Kingdoms in Conflict, The God of Stones and Spiders, and How Now Shall We Live.

In 1993, Colson was awarded the Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion, which is given each year to the person in the world who has done the most to advance the cause of religion. Colson donated the $1 million prize, as he did all his speaking fees and royalties, to further the work of Prison Fellowship.

Colson was later a principal signer of the 1994 Evangelicals and Catholics Together, an ecumenical document signed by leading Evangelical Protestants and Roman Catholic leaders in the United States. In November 2009, Colson was a principal writer and driving force behind another ecumenical statement known as the Manhattan Declaration which called on evangelicals, Catholics, and Orthodox Christians not to comply with rules and laws that violated their religious consciences.

My friend, just because you “blew it” once or twice doesn’t mean that God doesn’t still have big plans for you. Just keep walking in obedience and trust Him for the results.

“When Pharaoh heard of this matter, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh and dwelt in the land of Midian; and he sat down by a well.” Exodus 2:15 (NKJV)