Well Played Grandma Quincy

My mom’s mother, Grace Quincy, was a soft-spoken woman who was a deeply devoted Christian.

When I was a young boy she said, on several occasions, “I think Danny will be a minister someday.”

For some reason that bothered me. I think part of what bothered me was the idea that someone could in some way predict the direction of my life to that degree. In fact, there was a part of me that thought: “Just because she predicts I will be a minister I definitely will make sure that I will not be a minister.”

I was not against God. I was not against ministers. I just did not like the idea of someone making that type of prediction regarding my life.

Another reason this bothered me was—I hate to say it, but this was my opinion way back then—I thought of being a minister as something very bland. As a young boy I did not know what I would do when I grew up but I dreamed it would be something exciting. Something fun. Even something full of action packed adventure. Like… say… being a ninja… or something along those lines.

Hey, what can I tell you? That’s probably what lots of little boys hope and dream will happen.

And, in my thinking, being a minister was not a life of action packed adventure.

I never told Grandma Quincy I would not be a minister. In my mind, that would have been disrespectful and I never would have done such a thing. But I determined that I would not be a minister.

In the meantime, Grandma Quincy just took the matter to God in prayer.

You already see where this is going… don’t you?

At the age of 35, after working in the business world for a number of years, I became a pastor of a church. For a number of reasons I won’t go into in this post, this was a somewhat unlikely scenario. (Some would say I’m not really “minister material.”)

The little boy, now grown up, who said he would definitely make sure he would not be a minister is a pastor of church.

Every now and then when I’m sitting in my office, here at the church, I think about the story I’ve written here for your reading enjoyment and I think, “Well played, Grandma Quincy. Well played.”