Woah Moments.

When I was little, my dad used to play a particular Looney Tunes cartoon on his old-fashioned wall projector. The cartoon displayed on our paneled living room wall became such a staple in my life that I still find myself quoting little quips from it occasionally.

In this special cartoon a short, stubborn cowboy known as Yosemite Sam rides a camel that is just as stubborn as his rider.

The opening plot of the cartoon goes something like this…"Great horny toads! A trespasser, gettin' footy-prints all over my desert!" Sam hollers out when he sees footprints in the desert sand. Sam then orders the camel he is riding to slow down,"Whoa, camel, whoa!! Whoa!! Whoa, camel! WHOA!!!! Aw, come on, whoa! When I say 'whoa!' I mean 'WHOA!'". The camel is stubborn and doesn’t stop. To force his animal to stop Sam, ends up whacking it on the head with his rifle and knocking it out. Yosmite Sam then proceeds to scold the camel for not listening to him "Now I hope that'll learn ya, ya hump-backed muley!".

The cartoon continues with this premise as Sam chases and tries to catch Bugs Bunny, and is faced with similar situations of getting his camel to go."When I say 'giddy-up' I mean GIDDY-UP!" Yosimite Sam uses similar wording and smacking methods to force his camel into action after trying relentlessly to get the camel up and moving. The yelling and smacking work, and the camel takes off and away from Sam. Sam is forced to now run after the camel and orders it to slow down, repeating his "Whoa" phrase before hitting it in the head with the rifle once again "When I say 'whoa' I mean WHOA!".

The chase between Sam and Bugs Bunny proceeds on from there but this little portion of a classic Looney Tune storytelling lives rent free in my mind .I have even found myself on more than one occasion chasing a toddler on a playground and yelling “when I say whoa, I mean whoa!”

Am I really starting this post off with a cartoon illustration? Yes, Yes I am.

While I don’t picture God like the short, red headed and mustache- wearing figure of Yosemite Sam I do sometimes feel like I can hear Him yelling at me and telling me to “Whoa, Bethany! Whoa!” I can easily see myself as that stubborn camel, or a spirited toddler who simply will not listen. Somedays I imagine that God must be just as exasperated with me and my refusal to listen and move that He, in a similar style to Yosemite Sam with his animal, has to force me to stop.

I cannot be the only one that feels like God has yelled “whoa” to, felt exasperated with, or has fought God’s direction and tried to refuse to move in the way that He wants them to.

I know I am not.

Yosemite Sam lectures "Now I hope that'll learn ya, ya hump-backed muley!", and I feel like sometimes God whispers an exasperated “will she ever learn?!” towards me (and maybe He rolls His eyes).

My reality is that I do not just feel like I have been that camel being told to and sometimes forced to stop by God, I know that I have been. I know that God has hollered “woah!” to me and pulled on the “reins of my life” to force me to stop the direction I am headed. I also feel like on occasion God has allowed life to hit me upside the head and force me to stop, in a similar style to Yosemite Sam. Being forced to stop has not been easy, and it has not ever been fun.

More than one time I have found myself heading down a path with a plan and a supposed purpose, trying my best to be something or someone. And, more than once I have found myself stopped, hurting and broken. I have had my “come to Jesus moments” , “identity crisis” and my “destructive paths” and so many prideful opinions, thoughts and dreams about who I could be and what I could do.

But more than one time I found myself finally listening to God and hearing Him call out “Woah”.

There is a familiar man in the Bible whom I have learned a lot more about lately, and have begun to understand much better. That man's name is Saul.

One of the things I love most about Saul’s story is not so much his crazy miraculous transformation, but his history.

Saul was born to a prominent Jewish family. Saul was raised from birth and trained rigorously to become an educated and influential Jewish man. From a very young age Saul’s life was planned for him. Because Saul’s life was filled with rigorous and restrictive Jewish customs we know that he probably had what we would consider a “sheltered childhood”. Saul’s family would have adhered strictly to the Law of Moses, wanting to protect their children from “contamination” from the Gentiles. (Anything Greek or from the Gentile’s culture would have been despised in Saul’s household). It is because of Saul’s upbringing that he grew up to become a prominent member of the Sanhedrin (an exclusive group of 71 male lawyers who ruled over Jewish life and religion).

“Circumcised on the eighth day, of the race of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrew parentage, in observance of the law a Pharisee.” (Philippians 3:5) this is how Saul would later describe himself. Saul knew exactly who he was raised to be and what he was raised to believe.

Saul fervently pursued the new Christians that were coming in and destroying the traditions and laws he had been trained in his entire life. Saul was at the trial and execution of the first Christian martyr, Stephen. Stephen’s executioners laid their garments at the feet of Saul (Acts 7:54–60).Saul ravaged the churches, entered homes of believers and arrested both men and women. (Acts 8:3) Saul was adamantly set in his Jewish ways and traditions, and radically against the new “Christianity” that was growing. Essentially, Saul was a Jewish nationalist.

While on the road to Damascus (probably on his way to arrest more “radical” Christians) Saul had an encounter with God. Saul lost his sight, fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” (Acts 9:4) Saul questioned who it was that was addressing him and who it was that Saul was actually persecuting. The answer was direct: “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting” (Acts 9:5). Saul listened and followed Jesus’ directions to enter the city, where he would be shown what to do (Acts 9:6). Saul then saw a vision of a man who would help to restore his sight. (Acts 9:12).

The man Saul was instructed to meet was Ananias and like every other Christian around Ananias knew who Saul was and he was terrified of having to meet him, but God reassured him that it would be okay. Acts 9:15 (ESV): But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel.”

God shone down and literally stopped Saul in his tracks. He had a literal “woah” moment. God took away Saul’s sight, forcing him to listen and obey. God questioned “what are you doing, and why are you doing it?” But, after God called out and stopped Saul He showed Saul that He had a plan for Saul’s life. God’s plan was not new, God’s plan had always been in place. God instructed Saul in the correct way to do things and showed Saul what to do next. God placed people in his path to help him.

No part of this moment in Saul’s life was coincidence, God hand-picked Saul to carry his message to the Gentile people. Because of this “woah” moment the Christian-hating Pharisee, Paul became one of the most influential Christian ministers and writers within the early church, the Apostle Paul.

Are you starting to see a connection here? Allow me to stand on my teacher soap box for a few seconds.

Like Yosemite Sam’s camel and the Apostle Paul, sometimes God has to have a “woah camel, woah” moment with us. And sometimes when we are ignoring His voice telling us to stop, He steps in and forces us to stop. Our encounters may not feel like a bright light shining down and taking away our sight, but they feel can feel like falling off of a horse.

Sometimes these ‘woah’ moments can be really painful and not fun at all ( I’m pretty sure Saul losing his sight was not a pleasant experience). Maybe you’re like me and your moment came in the form of you losing a friend, an entire community, a position you worked hard for, or even the respect of someone…Maybe your moment felt like your world was crumbling and you were losing everything. I’m not going to lie, those moments and these losses hurt.

Pain is not a fun experience.

Regardless of what the "woah moment" feels or felt like, you and I can probably look back at our lives and find a moment when we were stopped in our tracks and forced to look at exactly what and why we were doing something.

Like in the story of the Apostle Paul, God may stop us and He may change our path. God may take away things from us, and He may place us in difficult or painful situations… but God never leaves us there alone. God is never random in His actions. God led Saul to Ananias and the other disciples in Damascus. God knew that Saul would have questions and provided people with answers to be there for Saul as he experienced a transformation in his heart and soul.

When God called out and stopped Saul He also showed Saul that there was a plan, and all of the pain he was experiencing was not in vain. The Bible reassures us of the same thing, God promises us the same He will never “leave us or forsake us” (Hebrews 13:5). God’s word to us instructs us and reminds us that He has a plan for each one of our lives no matter how hard and painful individual moments may seem.

Psalm 16:11 “You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.”

Ephesians 2:10 “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

Joshua 1:9 “This is my command-be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

It is crazy to think that God saw a zealous, passionate man who wanted to destroy everything that He was establishing, and decided “I pick him to spread the gospel”. But God saw Saul and God chose Saul. God knew all along that Saul’s education, his experience as a religious leader, his Roman citizenship and his unflagging zeal were all going to contribute to his success and understanding as a missionary. God ordered every step in Saul’s life. God had always had a plan for Saul.

If Saul had not been raised the way he was, exposed to the laws he was, trained in the Synagogues, or grown a passion against his ‘truth’ being destroyed, then he never would have been the effective and passionate minister that he was. God had a plan for Saul all along, stopping him and calling him out on the road to Damascus was as much a part of the story/plan as the way he was raised and the mistakes that he made in his early life.

It is amazing how God can use anyone from any background to fulfill His plan and His purpose.

It blows my mind how God not only uses, but He transforms the things that we believe make us inadequate, broken and useless to be the very things that make an impact.

Be vulnerable with me for a few minutes and look back at your life and past. Can you think of any moments where you have been stopped by some events, force of nature, or simple change of heart? Maybe they are dramatic ‘come to Jesus moments’, or maybe they are simple things that changed your heart before you even realized it? When you look at your personal history can you see shifts (maybe you can explain the shifts and maybe you cannot) where your life was completely re-directed and changed?

Could those moments and shifts be your own ‘woah moments’?

Have you experienced God stopping you and redirecting your life?

Is there a time where you were madly in love with an idea, a person, or an image and then it suddenly faded away and vanished from your heart?

Can you look at your past now with relief knowing that if you would have continued down the road that you had chosen you would be in a very different place than you are in right now?

Friend, me too.

Seriously. These are the moments that have led me here, to this post right here. As I write this I am almost thirty years old. Life has thrown me a few unexpected curveballs over time and I have definitely had a few ‘woah moments’.

I’ve received a few parental head thumps from the Big Man Upstairs. More than once God has stopped me and showed me that the life I was living and the person I was trying to become was not correct. Whether it was me pursuing a ministry with the wrong motivation and intention, blatantly living in sin, twisting ideas and manipulating life to fit my own plans, or simply being a stubborn daughter refusing to do what He asked of me.

I’ve been called out. And, I am so grateful that I am not who I planned to and wanted to be.