Unexpected things happen… and they aren’t always good.
What should we do when faced with unexpected disaster?
The hopeful news is that no disaster can leave you without an unexpected opportunity. You have an opportunity in every circumstance.
Stop focusing on the disaster, and focus on the opportunity

Unexpected 4 – Unexpected Opportunity from Redemption Church on Vimeo.
Unexpected 4 – Unexpected Opportunity
Sermon notes by Chris Fluitt
Redemption Church Plano Tx
**Vid bumper – Unexpected Opportunity
Welcome everyone. My name is Chris Fluitt. This is Redemption Church in Plano Tx.
For our friends watching or listening online, Plano Texas is a great city in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. Plano is North of Dallas Tx. When we describe where we live, we often say “We live in North Dallas.”  Many of us in this room work in Dallas. Some live in Dallas. We hang out in Dallas.
We love Dallas. We claim Dallas.
On Thursday evening, violence hit our City of Dallas Tx. During a peaceful protest, a sniper opened fire on the people providing protection to the protest – Police officers. It’s sickening that thousands could gather in peace and a handful of people can change the dynamic entirely. There is a life lesson in there… The Bible says “small foxes can spoil an entire vinyard.” (Song of Solomon 2:15) The Bible says “a little yeast effects the whole batch of dough.” (Galatians 5:9, 1 Cor 5:6)
14 people were shot. 5 officers killed. Much of America glued to their TV or to social media wondering – What, Why, How?
The actions on Thursday are just a piece of the strife, fear, and heartbreak we have felt this week.  There is also the shootings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile.  They were shot by police officers in Lousiana and Minnesota respectively. We have stared in disbelief as aftershocks of violence have been present across our nation.
This is a broken situation. This is a broken world.
Race warfare, class warfare, political warfare, religious warfare… people killing each other… and it happens constantly.  It happens ALL THE TIME.
People have been and are REELING. You know this. You have seen it. You have experienced it.
People have questions…

* How did this happen?
* Where are our leaders? Won’t someone stand up and say the unifying thing that will stop this insanity?
* Why won’t our courts pass a law that stops this madness?
* When will people see that our culture is hurting?  When will people see the injustice?  When will people stop the hate?
* What do I tell my children?

I think we can all agree that we are facing a disastrous situation.
What do we do when we are faced with an Unexpected Disaster
Disaster always has a way of finding us doesn’t it?

* America tried it’s best to stay out of World War II. Disaster struck us in Pearl Harbor.
* People built their retirement and investment portfolios so that they would be prepared for the unexpected… how surprised they were when an unexpected recession nearly wiped out their savings completely. This was just a decade ago. People thought their 401k was guaranteed. There are no guarantees…
* Relationship disasters, home disasters, national disasters, neighborhood disasters… They either have hit us, will hit us, or are hitting us.

This is not the first time we have been hit with a disaster in America. You would think by now we wouldn’t be caught off guard… that we wouldn’t be surprised… or that maybe it would hurt less because of the callouses built up by frequency… But no.
Disaster is always unexpected. It always hurts. It always makes our heads spin, our hearts hurt, and our blood rush.