When God Shows Up in the Ordinary

Death has a way of waking us up to what really matters.

Three funerals in one week—a 28-year-old sister, a 20-year-old nephew, an 18-year-old in a car accident. Suddenly, the mundane routines of life get interrupted by the stark reality that eternity is just a doorway away. And what matters most in those moments isn’t the houses we’ve built, the jobs we’ve worked, or the accomplishments we’ve accumulated. What matters is whether we’ve shared the good news of Jesus with the people in our lives.

Because here’s the truth: death is just a door to eternity. And if someone walks through that door without knowing Jesus, all the disbelief in hell won’t make it one degree cooler for them.

The Greatest Accomplishment

After 50 years of life, what would you consider your greatest accomplishment? A successful career? Financial security? A nice home?

The greatest accomplishment any of us can hope for is watching our children—whether biological, spiritual, or those we’ve influenced—serving the Lord. Everything else fades. Cars rust. Houses crumble. Jobs end. But investing in souls? That’s eternal.

And the second greatest accomplishment? Being able to talk about those spiritual victories without crying. That’s growth.

Committing the Ordinary

In Proverbs 16:3, we find a powerful instruction: “Commit your activities to the Lord, and your plans will be established.”

Notice it doesn’t say commit your church services to the Lord. Or your prayer life. Or just your “spiritual” activities. It says commit your activities—all of them. Everything you do.

Waking up? That’s an activity. Driving to work? Activity. Shopping for groceries? Activity. Sitting on your front porch? Activity. Watching TV? Activity. Playing softball? Activity.

We tend to compartmentalize our lives—these things are God’s, and these things are mine. But that’s not what Scripture teaches. When we truly commit everything to the Lord, we give Him permission to take our ordinary moments and transform them into extraordinary opportunities.

The Longhorn Epiphany

Sometimes God shows up in a steakhouse.

A simple dinner out—nothing special, just a father and son grabbing a meal. But when the Holy Spirit prompts you to pay for someone else’s meal, and you obey, suddenly an ordinary Tuesday night becomes an answered prayer for a struggling waitress who’s been asking God all day how she’ll pay her bills.

She came back in tears. “I’ve been praying all day, and you’re only my second table.”

That wasn’t about the generosity of diners. That was Jesus showing up right when someone needed Him most.

The extraordinary was hiding in the ordinary all along.

The Control Problem

Most of us—especially men, though we don’t like to admit it—are control freaks. We’re okay with chaos as long as we’re the ones creating it. We want the Holy Spirit to move, but we want to control the narrative.

We say we want to give, but only when we have extra money in the bank. We say we want to be used, but only in ways that are comfortable. We say we want God’s will, but we want it to align with our plans.

But here’s the revelation: we can’t control the Holy Spirit and experience His power at the same time.

When we truly surrender—when we stop trying to dictate where, when, and how God uses us—that’s when the miraculous happens in the mundane.

From the Heart

Colossians 3:23 instructs us: “Whatever you do, do it from the heart, as something done for the Lord and not for people.”

Your mouth speaks what’s in your heart. Your actions reveal what’s in your heart. If your heart is set on personal gain, it shows. If your heart is consumed with fear, it shows. But if your heart is devoted to Jesus Christ, that shows too.

When you go to work, are you working for a paycheck? That’s just a byproduct. You should be working as unto the Lord.

When you go out to eat, are you just consuming food? You can do that at home. You’re there for an experience—an opportunity to interact with people, to be kind, to leave a lasting impression that points people to Jesus.

In everything—and that means everything—we’re called to glorify the Lord.

Ordinary People, Extraordinary Encounters

Consider the biblical pattern:

• Moses was tending sheep—ordinary work—when God met him at the burning bush.
• David was tending his father’s sheep when Samuel came to anoint him king.
• Peter was fishing when Jesus called him to follow.
• Paul was traveling on a road when Jesus appeared to him in blinding light.
• The Ethiopian eunuch was riding in a chariot, reading Scripture he didn’t understand, when Philip explained the gospel to him.

None of these were in “spiritual” settings. They were doing ordinary things. But God showed up and did something extraordinary.

The gospel spread like wildfire in Ethiopia not because of a carefully orchestrated evangelism campaign, but because one man encountered Jesus during a chariot ride home.

The First Step

Think about laying a paver patio. You can dig out the dirt, level the ground, compact the base—all necessary preparation. But none of it matters until you lay that first block. Until you take that first step, no one knows what the finished product will look like.

God is waiting for your first step.

You’ll never know what He’s going to do with your ordinary steps until you take that first one. And then you’ll look back and say, “Look what God did”—not “look what I did.”

Peter would never have walked on water if he hadn’t taken that first step out of the boat. He had no idea what would happen. But he stepped anyway.

Seeds Every Day

Your job is to plant seeds. Every single day.

Are you planting them? In conversations at work? At the gas station? At the grocery store? With your neighbors?

You can’t afford to let one day go by without planting at least one seed. Because that one seed you didn’t plant might have been someone’s only chance.

Handing out popcorn at a bank seems ordinary. But when you listen to what the Lord says and speak life into someone receiving that popcorn, it becomes extraordinary.

Working in a jail isn’t glamorous. But when inmates start paying attention to Sunday messages and commenting on details they notice, you realize they’re listening—and God is working.

Going to school, buying groceries, pumping gas—all ordinary. But when done with a heart fully committed to the Lord, any of these can become the setting for someone’s encounter with Jesus.

The Challenge

This week, what ordinary activity will you commit to the Lord? Where will you take that first step of obedience, trusting Him to do something extraordinary?

Stop waiting for the “big” opportunity. God specializes in using the small, the mundane, the everyday moments we overlook.

Commit your activities—all of them—to the Lord. Do everything from your heart as unto Him. Take that first step.

And watch what happens when God shows up in your ordinary.