Some…

Mark E. Haskins

July 23, 2026

In a recent campfire gathering, one young man described his current ‘crisis of faith’. He was vulnerable and hoping that what he was saying was not true. But he couldn’t convince himself it wasn’t. In various ways, and with a visible heaviness of heart, he stated that God seemed to have abandoned him. His words appeared raw and painful to utter, and they were heartbreaking to hear. He felt forgotten and it was clear that his thoughts were captive to a vicious cycle of doubt.

As he shared parts of his story, he used the words “somehow”, “someone”, and “something” several times in referring to various key moments in his life. Sadly, he was not seeing now nor was he remembering that God was in those moments since He is continually present and at work in our lives. My young friend, please let me remind you, remind myself, remind all of us that God was, and still is, in the (1) somehow, the (2) someone, and the (3) something aspects of life. God was not, and is not, AWOL. God is also in the (4) somewhere and (5) sometime moments of our lives. That is true for all of us.

Might our Heavenly Father take great pleasure in crafting or using the events and circumstances of our lives that we could not have anticipated? Might He also take great pleasure in facilitating connections with others that we didn’t see coming? Yes! While the people, the circumstances, the events, the location, the timing for various things we experience may seem coincidental, insignificant, random, fortuitous, and maybe even mysterious they unfold in ways that ultimately point to Him. I choose to believe God is in all things (Ephesians 1: 22-23 and I Corinthians 12: 6). This is not the “puppet master” theory of a divine being. Rather, it is a perspective and trust that our loving Heavenly Father cares about us and is creative in the how, when, where, with whom, and doing whatever experiences we have so that eventually the eyes of our heart will see His love for us in countless sweet ways (Ephesians 1: 18). We may only “see” His ways in the rearview mirror of yesterday but when overlayed with belief we will not lose heart today.

Take a moment to marvel at these unexpected ways God manifested Himself for kingdom purposes.

• God needed someone to rescue and protect the infant Moses during Pharaoh’s purge of Hebrew babies. Unbeknownst to Pharaoh, God used Pharaoh’s own daughter (Exodus 2: 5-10). Jesus needed someone to start the formation of an earthly band of brothers at the outset of His ministry. He found four fishermen who would eventually become fishers of men (Matthew 4: 18-22).
• Jesus needed to do something to start His earthly ministry that would reveal, in a relatable way to those gathered, His power. He chose to turn water into the best wine at a wedding with friends (John 2: 1-11). God needed something to catch Moses’ attention so that He could enlist him to lead the Israelites out of slavery. God chose a burning bush that was not consumed by the fire (Exodus 3: 1-10).
• Jesus wanted somewhere to declare and underscore the fact that He offered “living water” to all. He chose to meet an oft-scorned Samaritan woman at a well (John 4: 7-14). God used an unlikely, commonplace somewhere for Jesus, the Savior of the world, to be born. He chose Galilee (John 1: 46, 7: 52).
• Sometimes Jesus uses everyday moments to make important points. He used a storm to reveal the connection between fear and faith (Mark 4: 35-41). Likewise, God used the dream of a sleeping Jacob to present a stairway depicting the connection between heaven and earth ultimately made complete by Jesus’ life and death (Genesis 28: 12 and John 1: 51).
• Somehow, the Israelites needed to defeat the Philistines in a key battle. God displayed His means via a slingshot in the hands of a small shepherd boy defeating Goliath (I Samuel 17: 4-50). Somehow, God needed Paul to escape capture in Damascus so he could take the gospel to the Gentiles. God used a basket on a rope through a window to accomplish that escape (II Corinthians 11: 33). Somehow the city walls of Jericho had to be breached. God did so with the novel approach of shouts and horns (Joshua 6: 1-20).

Clearly, the point of these Biblical events, and others like them, is to convey the message that God can do anything, at any time, in any manner, with anyone, anywhere. We often say God’s ways are mysterious. Indeed, He often does color outside the lines that our finite minds impose. We know that to be foundationally true because even “…Christ’s incarnation occurred improbably, ridiculously, at such-and-such a time, into such-and-such a place is referred to—with great sincerity even amongst believers—as ‘the scandal of particularity’. We’re all up to our necks in this particular scandal.”¹ Indeed, with a bit of honest reflection, we know that to be true from our own lives. It is so lovingly reassuring is it not?

When we use these terms in our personal stories—sometime, somehow, somewhere, someone, or something—it conveys the fact that we didn’t or don’t know the underlying how or why for whatever occurred. Let’s give God the credit. Often, each of those pertain to an aspect of life that differs from what we may have wanted or even tried to engineer. That is when we also find ourselves, after the fact, using phrases like: “I got lucky” or “Joe’s text was so timely” or “I never imagined that would happen” or “What a coincidence” or “I found myself talking to Lisa about…” Our God is a generous, dependable, creative, loving Father who knows best the what, the how, the when, the who, and the where for our lives. We can trust that to be true because He loves us (I John 4: 9-11, 19). He wants what is best for us (II Corinthians 9: 8). And we know that all things ultimately work together to our good (Romans 8: 28). This is not to say we passively wait for His ways and a heavenly road map to fall into our laps. No. We move. He guides. We are alert. He provides. We make ‘wrong’ choices. He redeems. And we are instructed to be thankful for the things that occur, seemingly good or bad, even if we might not understand them (I Thessalonians 5: 18).

One short personal story to prompt your own recollections. I scheduled my wedding on the day of my undergraduate college graduation. It had not been a particularly enjoyable four years of college. I had no desire to ever step foot onto a college campus again. Two years later I quit my corporate job, not knowing what I wanted to do. I begrudgingly went to graduate school to delay looking for a job and to figure out how I was going to make a living. After my first term, I got a request to come to the director’s office. Uh oh. What had I done wrong? Nothing! Unbeknownst to me, a faculty member had just quit or taken a leave (I don’t recall which), and the academic Accounting Department needed someone to teach its introductory course. I was the only student with a CPA credential in the graduate program at that time so the director figured I could do it and might even want to. He enticed me with a whopping $300 a month. I accepted the offer and spent that term doing my graduate studies and preparing for the classes I had to teach. (I probably spent more time on the latter than the former because potential public embarrassment is a strong motivator.) I loved it and did it successfully. Eventually, I went on to pursue a career as a professor on a college campus. (Might God have a sense of irony or humor at times?)

That career was a perfect professional pursuit for me. In short, I had found myself at just the right graduate school (the somewhere), at just the right time when an unexpected teacher opening occurred (the sometime), with just the right professional credential to get noticed (the something), with just the right administrator willing to take a chance on me (the someone), and I was eager to figure out how to teach on a just-in-time basis with no prior experience (the somehow). I had certainly never foreseen those aligned events nor the career they would lead to. It was most definitely all God’s doing. Those events also did not guarantee any sort of future career success; subsequent years had their own significant touches of God. Take a moment to recall some special ways God has been present and active in your life when, at the time, you may have missed seeing that reality. If you were aware of His presence at the time, remembering those ways again now provides a sweet, second blessing.

Whenever we wonder where God is in our lives, we first of all know that His Spirit lives in us (II Timothy 1: 14 and I John 4: 13). And, in an even more tangible way, we know He has appeared in the something, somewhere, sometime, somehow, and someone stories that have peppered our lives. We often say that God can do anything, anytime, anywhere, anyhow, for/with anyone. Let’s walk that talk and not doubt it because He is in all things and He will never abandon us (Ephesians 4: 6 and Hebrews 13: 5). Let’s not mistake His quiet presence for absence. Let’s not equate His Kingdom “usual” for our overlooked “ordinary.” Let’s not fixate on only what seem to be the big moments in our lives when He shows up, let’s be alert to and appreciative of His faithfulness in the many small moments that comprise our days (Deuteronomy 32: 4, Lamentations 3: 23-24, II Timothy 2: 13, II Timothy 2: 13). Whenever we think or utter one of those five words that start with “some…”, let’s hear them testify to the fact that He has been active, present, and purposeful in our lives. “Lord, we want to see You more each day. We don’t want to accept the Enemy’s message that You don’t care or that You are AWOL. May our eyes and heart always seek to recognize You in this place, at this moment, in this event, with this person, for Your purposes. We want to be overwhelmed with, and bask in, Your reality. Help us to best minister to those who find themselves captive to a vicious cycle of doubt. Amen.”

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¹ Annie Dillard (2013), Pilgrim at Tinker Creek (Harper Perennial Modern Classics, NY, NY), p. 81. Gratitude goes to W. Jacobsen for pointing me to this author and the “scandal of particularity” idea a number of years ago.

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