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鈥淚nconsequential鈥� Decisions in Light of Our Reconciler
Dr. John Plating, Director of the Center for Calling & Career and Adjunct Professor of History
In June 1942, US Navy Commander Wade McCluskey led a formation of dive bombers searching for the Japanese fleet in the Pacific Ocean near Midway Island. Months earlier, the Japanese had devised a complex plan designed to devastate the US fleet based at Pearl Harbor, but American codebreakers had intercepted that plan and set in motion a counterattack that would catch the Japanese completely by surprise. McCluskey鈥檚 small force was part of that counter, but dependent on eyesight鈥攁nd not radar鈥攖o find the enemy fleet. Running low on fuel, McClusky made one last turn as part of his search before calling off the hunt and moments later spotted the wake of enemy vessels. He ordered his flight to attack, catching the aircraft carriers at the worst possible moment when aircraft were being refueled. What ensued was complete chaos, rendering three of their four carriers useless. Yes, in a five-minute span, the tide of the entire war in the Pacific pivoted dramatically.
Why do I share this story, and what does it have to do with teaching history at Covenant? I share it as an example of how the course of human history often pivots on a very narrow fulcrum. To be sure, McCluskey and his men were tiny parts of mammoth forces locked in global conflict, but the seemingly random decision that day to extend his search with one last turn resulted in the decimation of the enemy fleet. Thankfully, most of us do not live where life or death is an immediate result of our choices, but that does not diminish the significance of those day-to-day decisions. True, the course of world events does not hinge on which toothpaste I brush with or if I choose to blare my car horn at the person in front of me at the red light who鈥檚 busy texting when the light turns green. Compared to Wade McCluskey, all of those things seem inconsequential, and yet the Lord in his Providence has chosen to work through the billions of decisions made by humans every day to carry out his purposes in some mysterious way. Allow me to be a little more personal.
In September 1991, I was in the Air Force and stationed at a base in Phoenix. While there, I joined a Bible study with other Air Force 20-somethings and was invited to a cookout with a couple I met. They thought I would like to meet their friend who was visiting鈥攁 young woman named Paula鈥攁nd so plans were made for me to stop by for a casual hangout. Suffice it to say, my life would never be the same after that day because I fell head-over-heels in love with Paula pretty quickly. We were engaged in the next six months and married less than three months after that. The Lord blessed us with a family, and after countless military moves and a 25-year Air Force career, we arrived on Lookout Mountain a decade ago where we enjoy nearby in-town children and our two grandsons who live right around the corner. All that to say鈥擨 cannot imagine a life other than the one I鈥檝e had with Paula for the last three-plus decades. And when I start to consider all the seemingly random factors that converged to the point where she and I would meet, that alone is mind-boggling to consider.
What鈥檚 the point of all of this? One could look at this from the vantage point of a mere series of random events that turned out luckily for one over another. One could look at the history of my marriage and exclaim, 鈥淲ell, that鈥檚 a happy story.鈥� But the amazing thing is that the Lord in his wisdom, love, and sovereignty rules over all of these events and shapes the course of history in the trillions of choices made by us as His image-bearers. Specifically, He calls us, His people, to pray that His kingdom would come, and that His will would be done on earth as it is in heaven. And while we do so earnestly, we do so with the expectation that that day will come. It is that framework that informs the way I teach history and direct the Center for Calling & Career at Covenant. I hope to guide students to understand that their journey to discovering the Lord鈥檚 will for their lives involves trusting His sovereignty in the midst of making hundreds of these seemingly inconsequential decisions. With this perspective, we can work to simultaneously honor the choices and actions of God鈥檚 image bearers while also marveling at His astounding sovereignty as He is right now working through those human choices to reconcile all things to Himself. Thanks be to God.