In May 1846, a guest speaker named James Caughey visited a little church in Nottingham, England. The Bible verse he chose to speak on that night was a promise found in the eleventh chapter of Mark, where Jesus says: I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it and it will be yours (Mark 11:24). Caughey explained that the key to understanding this promise was to learn to desire what God desires. He then added that God's greatest desire was that we develop the character of a servant, that we help the poor, and that we tell others about Jesus.

One particular man was sitting in the audience that evening. He'd become a Christian two years before but had been drifting in his faith since. On that May evening, however, God spoke to him. Caughey’s words burned in his heart. He left the church that night with a passion, and devoted himself to starting an organization committed to serving the needy and telling others about Christ.

And I just wonder: as James Caughey had prepared his sermon that week, as he’d prayed and studied, written and edited his message; as he pulled out his notes the night before he was to speak to refine his message… I wonder if he had any idea what tomorrow would bring? Would James Caughey have ever foreseen that in the church that Sunday night would sit William Booth, and that his sermon would catalyse the beginning of the Salvation Army?

I told this story to the Compassion Australia folks on Wednesday—the eve of Compassion Day. Like James Caughey, we didn’t know what the next day would bring. What would the children released from poverty on Compassion Day rise to become? Could one of those sponsored children become a leader in the church, a leader in education, a leader in health care, a social transformer? Would we even see the next President of the Philippines or Indonesia sponsored on Compassion Day?

That’s the exciting thing about journeying with God—you never know what lives may be changed, what dreams may be birthed, what movements could be set in motion, when tomorrow comes.

Because God is an active God. The same God who imagined the world and spoke it into existence (Gen. 1-2), who came searching for Adam and Eve when they disobeyed and ran away (Gen. 3:8, 9), who told Abraham He’d build a nation out of his family (Gen. 12), and who called Moses to lead the Israelites out of captivity (Ex. 3), is the same God—the Bible says—whose eyes at this very moment are scanning the earth looking for a committed heart to strengthen (2 Chron. 16:9). The same God who inspired David to write his Psalms, Solomon to build his temple and Nehemiah to rebuild his city, the same God who in Christ came seeking and saving the lost (Lk. 19:10), and who leaves the ninety-nine to find the one lost sheep (Lk. 15:3-7), is the same God who works in us, ‘to will and to act according to his good purpose’ (Phil. 2:13).

That’s why the Christian life is so exciting—you never what may happen, you never know what God will do, you never know how He might use you, when tomorrow comes.

God is a God of surprises. Who’d have thought a nation could come from an old man like Abraham and his infertile wife Sarah? Who’d have thought a little boy’s catch of fish and loaves of bread would feed a crowd of 5000? Who’d have thought a church-hating murderer would become the apostle called Saint Paul? In fact, who ever thought God himself would make His grand entrance into world history as a baby boy?

No, I’m sure James Caughey never knew the impact his words would have as he prepared to speak in that little church in Nottingham. That’s the exciting thing about journeying with God—walking with Him you never know what lives He may change, what dreams He may birth and what movements He might set in motion… when tomorrow comes.