Locally, it is the time of year where high school drama teams will soon be performing their spring musicals.

Advertisements promoting these events are in place and it is only a few weeks until the curtain rises for the initial performances.

Footloose, The Music Man, and Children of Eden are a few of the musicals to be performed this year near our domain.

When our children lived at home and participated in live theater, it was all hands on deck for weeks.

They even got all 6″5″ of me to dress in green tights for a dance scene in Cinderella!

Seriously!

It was hour after hour of practice on top of homework and any other activities.

Much effort went into memorizing and practicing lines, nailing down the correct inflection on every word, directing movements on and off the stage, and orchestrating the music to go along with the choreography.

For the drama director, it was a huge undertaking.

No matter how one slices it, the dramatic sequences were and are highly scripted.

Each performer has set lines, enters and exits the scene at precise times, and lives their theatrical lives according to the lines set forth in the script.

I understand this sort of existence for life on stage.

However, does life on your stage come anywhere close to being scripted?

I cannot answer for you, but my life seems like it is very much Unscripted.

Particularly now.

It is an adventure into the unknown.

It very much resembles getting into an empty canoe.

The canoe rests streamside, inviting me to get in, grab a paddle, and head downstream as the current gently pulls me away from the shore into unknown waters.

At first the waters appear calm.

A few rocks to navigate, but nothing to be overly concerned about.

The speed of the current increases and in a few moments, whitewater begins to take over and the canoe is hurtling downstream with me in it.

The adventure begins.

I do not recall waking up on the morning of November 10, 2014 to read an advance copy of the following script:

Bruce: Drive 82 miles to the new location of your current workplace. Arrive at office to start the work day.

Employer: An hour or so after Bruce arrives, “Can you step into my office for a few minutes?”

Bruce: “Sure, I’ll be right there.”

Employer: “Due to unforeseen conditions, I need to inform you that your employment with our organization ends today.”

Bruce: Not a word spoken. However, there are all kinds of thoughts spinning around in his mind. He packs up a few personal belongings, exits stage right never to return to this scene, and drives home pondering how he will break the news to his wife.

Life happens.

It happens to you and it happens to me.

How life is lived rests in how we respond to life happening.

• You may have come into an unexpected inheritance. Life appears to be on the upswing – Unscripted!
• You may be facing the uncertainty or knowledge of an unwanted medical diagnosis. Life seems like a huge question mark – Unscripted.
• A loved one passes when you least expected it – Unscripted.
• You have been birthing a business and you hit dead end after dead end – Unscripted.
• Accidents do occur and leave us grasping for answers as to why. I pray this never occurs in your life, nonetheless – Unscripted.
• The bottom may have fallen out financially. You are not sure what to do – Unscripted.
• You raise a child to do right. They choose the opposite – Unscripted.

Life unscripted in each and every case.

I recently finished reading a book as part of the author’s book launch team.

Undone: A Story of Making Peace with an Unexpected Life, by author and speaker, Michele Cushatt is the story of living life unscripted and most assuredly Undone.

I also follow Michele’s blog much to my benefit.

Like a great Italian meal, if you want real, homemade, and authentic cuisine, you can check it out here.

Michele shares her story in a non-sugar coated, true to life, transparent fashion. It made me laugh and it made me cry.

Michele preferred her story to be scripted. She got the opposite.

• It is the story of loss through an unwanted divorce.
• It is the story of finding love again and the ensuing “messy middle” in blending two families.
• It is the story of hearing the word “cancer” and facing the fear of the unknown, over and over and over!
• It is the story of a child gone astray.
• It is the story of the unexpected when facing the welcomed horizon of the empty nest, three “littles” come into their lives to make the Cushatt’s home, their home.

Michele’s story is your story and it is my story.

The details may be different.

However, it is about making sense of life’s challenges when they make no sense at all.

It is a story of coming to grips with life when life is Undone.

Life happens and the unexpected occurs, unscripted.

We can scratch our heads in an attempt to “figure” life out.

Good luck in doing so!

Personally, there have been times where I approached my life as if it were organized into neat columns and rows on some sort of celestial spreadsheet.

Everything perfectly aligned and in its proper place.

When the unexpected enters the scene, one of two things can occur.

Chaos or peace.

I have had my share of chaos.   It is not for me.

Peace is what I seek and attempt to distill from the unscripted.

I take comfort in the following words:

“And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.” Romans 8:28 (NLT)

There are times when one has to blindly trust and allow the adventure of the river to bring the canoe safely to rest.

I cannot speak for you. All I know is all I know.

I choose to find solace in a person, Jesus, the one in whose hands I rest.

Life may appear to be Unscripted much of the time.

When I choose to look at my story rolling up into His larger story, I get a deeper sense of the Unscripted playing out to be more scripted than I once thought.

I pray you make peace with the unscripted and unexpected parts of your life, especially when your life seems to be Undone.

If you are looking for Hope, you will find it in the pages of Undone.

Michele is brutally and lovingly honest. She is for certain real!

She had hoped for a tidy life. What she received was even better, an inner promise where God assured her:

“I never wanted nor promised a tidy life. I want you. And I promised me.”

If your life seems a bit Undone (whose life isn’t?), I would urge you to pick up a copy of this book to help you make sense of the unscripted and undone.

You will be glad you did!

This book was the calm to me in the midst of my storm.  It can be the same for you if you choose to enter in.

Hint: Enter in! 

You can pre-order the book here and in the process find some help in coming to terms with your Undone, upside down life.

How do you make sense of the unscripted occurrences in your life?