Our anniversary almost killed me (literally)

Prudence and I just got back from Portugal.

We went to celebrate 28 years of marriage. Lisbon, Porto, beautiful coastline, good food, zero responsibilities.
That was the plan.

God had a different agenda. (oh my goodness different)
Three days into the trip, I ended up in a Portuguese hospital with an abscess the size of Texas.

Emergency surgery. Anesthesia. A surgeon I'd never met cutting into me while my wife navigated foreign roads in the dark trying to find her way back to the AirBNB, in a country where she didn't speak the language. (She’s a 50 point stabilizer folks, NOT a fun time)

Happy anniversary, right?
Here's the thing, God showed up MASSIVELY…
I'm not writing this to complain. I'm writing because what happened over the next two weeks might be one of the most important spiritual seasons of my life.
I think there's something in it for you, too.

When God Interrupts Your Plans
I've been a Christian long enough to know that God doesn't always explain Himself in advance.

But… when you're lying in a hospital bed in a foreign country, wondering if the infection is going to spread, wondering if you’re gonna have incontinence for life (TMI, I know, but very REAL) it's hard not to ask the question:

Why now? Why here? Why this?
Proverbs 16:9 says, "In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps."

I had planned the course. Flights booked. Airbnbs reserved. Restaurants researched. I had a whole itinerary.

God established different steps.
And here's what I'm learning: the interruption was not the problem. The interruption was the point.

A Crisis or a Coronation?
Let me give you the short version of what unfolded:

• I descended nine levels into an ancient well in Sintra called the Well of Initiation, a place built for symbolic death and rebirth. I didn't know I was about to experience both.
• A few days later, I was on an operating table. Something that had been growing inside me, something I didn't even know was there, was cut out.
• We recovered in a converted windmill overlooking the Tagus river. Then moved to an apartment in Lisbon that felt like a castle inside…
• We visited Óbidos, an ancient walled city, and walked on the walls in the rain. Nearly alone. Quiet. Prophetic.
• And through it all, Prudence and I bonded in ways we haven't in years. Probably ever.

I'll unpack all of this over the next few weeks. But here's the headline:
What looked like a disaster was actually a divine reset.

The enemy thought he was stealing our celebration. Instead, he triggered something far more significant.

Isaiah 55:8-9 puts it plainly:
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the Lord. "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts."

I didn't understand what God was doing. I still don't have the full picture. But I'm starting to see it. And I want to bring you along.

This isn't just my story. It's a framework.
Because if you've ever had your plans blown up... if you've ever wondered why God let something painful happen... if you've ever felt like you were in a pit and couldn't see the way out...

This is for you.

Next week, we go deeper. I'll tell you about the Well of Initiation, the surgery, and what Jacob's limp has to do with all of it.
Until then, pay attention to what God might be interrupting in your life.

It might not be a problem.

It might be a promotion.