You Were Meant to Be Here

In the fall of 1979, Herb Brooks held tryouts for the US Olympic hockey team. Sixty-eight of the nation's best college players showed up. Brooks didn't pick the most talented twenty. He picked the ones who fit his purpose — players whose individual gifts served a collective design.

For seven months, he pushed them through a punishing regimen that confused and sometimes infuriated them. They couldn't see the reason behind the relentless drills. But Brooks could. He was building something none of them could yet imagine.

On February 22, 1980, those twenty young men faced the Soviet Union — a team that had won four consecutive Olympic gold medals and demolished the NHL All-Stars 6-0 just a year before. Moments before the opening faceoff, Brooks looked at his players and said, "You were born to be hockey players. You were meant to be here tonight. This is your time."

They won 4-3, in what the world would call the Miracle on Ice.

The Almighty works the same way. He doesn't always call the most gifted — He calls the ones whose gifts fit His purpose. Sometimes the preparation feels pointless, the trials seem arbitrary, and the design makes no sense from where you're standing. But God sees what you cannot yet imagine.

You were not assembled by accident. You were meant to be here. This is your time.