Throughout our lives we are faced with challenging decisions.  They are inevitable.  Recently the wife and I had been talking through some things and keep saying that we wanted to choose the options that were in God’s will.  And it’s true.  We always want to stay in the things that God has for us.

So as we have talked and prayed through things, what if we don’t get a neon flashing sign from heaven that says go here?  What if we just don’t know?  What if we have multiple very good options?  Does that mean that we aren’t really following God?  Are we now outside of His will?

I’m not sure that there is just one path that we could take to be in God’s will.  If there was only one possible path it seems like if  you make one wrong decision you are stuck for the rest of your life.  You have left God’s will and can’t ever get back to it.  But Paul tells us differently.

…he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion…

Philippians 1:6

He started something in us when we first believed in Christ.  He isn’t going to give that up.  As long as I am following His Word, obeying, submitting and believing, He will work out everything for good in whatever decision is made.  As long as our motivations are pure and not self-centered, either option will work.  And He knows what He is doing too!

I know what I’m doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for.

Jeremiah 29:11

So as we continue living our lives and keep trying to wrap our feeble minds around everything that comes our way, maybe we need to stop and remember that He is far more powerful than we can imagine.  He is big enough and smart enough to see more than one option.  He is capable and faithful to work things out for good of those that love for Him.

Last night the wife and I had one of those long talks.  (No, not like that.  I’m not in trouble.  At least not that I know of.)  You know the ones.  One of those that you ask each other the “what if” questions and the “let’s say ____” hypotheticals.  They are all very good questions and great things to think through and communicate about.  We want to be on the same page about where we see our futures headed and what our ideal situations would be (as if they actually might come true).  If we don’t talk about all these things, when the next five or 10 years happen we won’t be prepared at all.

Like I said they are all good questions.  But at the same time they are scary questions.  As a man, husband and daddy they make me think about all the money and provisions and all those areas that we men fear failure in.  But as I was sitting there talking about our future with my better and smarter half, all I could think about was Jeremiah 29:11.  I can attempt to wrap my mind around everything and try to control it all and have everything figured out, but we all know that is just going to put me in the loony bin.  But I have a God who is in control and far more powerful than I let Him be.  He sees my issues.  He knows my fears.  He has some plans.  They are better than mine.  There is hope.

I know what I’m doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for.

Jeremiah 29:11

Are you letting your fears take over your mind?  Are you trying to create the hope that only comes from one Source?  Let it go.  Plan, save, dream.  But let go of the fears.  He’s got your back.

Ever been stuck in traffic so bad that you feel like your grandpa using his walker with tennis balls on it would be going faster?  You sit in the back with countless cars in front of you just praying to go just 20 mph.  You have somewhere to be.  You’ve tried changing lanes when the other is going faster only to watch it stop dead and the first start up.  Yup.  Traffic sucks.

When you are sitting back there behind all the traffic, it looks as though there is no hope.  All you see is brake lights.  No one moving.  Nothing good.  We all know that it is easy to see life this way.  Things get rough and there is no hope.  Nothing giving.  Nothing moving.  Everything seems to be standing still.  Even moving backwards.  Yeah, when all you can see from your point of view is the insurmountable problems in front of you, it is hard to see what is good.

But there is hope.  There is a different view.  There are many other angles to see.  Each one shows the situation to be a little bit different.  If you move to the access road on the side of that packed highway you can see that there are cars moving.  There is space between them.  There is good coming.  Maybe you need to see the good in what was prevented.  You lost your job only to miss out on the scandal that was about to take place.  You got caught in your sin before it took you to a place beyond the reconciliation of your friendships.  Because you had to sit in that traffic you didn’t get to the intersection in time for the car crash that could have taken your family.

It is definitely hard to see the good when everything seems stacked against you, but God sees all the angles that we are incapable of seeing.  He knows the plans that He has for you.  For future.  For hope.  Next time you are backed up behind that impossible traffic, trust that you will get there.  In His timing.

• Schedules
• Calendars
• Timelines
• Dates
• Alarms
• ETA

We live our lives by plans.  Some of us live by fewer plans that others do.  Most of us can think of at least one person that is more planned out than ourselves.  Many of us married that person.  But mixed with a good amount of spontaneity, we like to have our lives planned out.  We wanna know when we are supposed to be places.  We like to know when our shows come on.  We like to know when our planes are going to leave.  It’s true.  You can sit there and kid yourself all you like, but the truth is that without some planning we would be in utter chaos.

So we plan.  We look at the foreseeable future (that is really unforeseeable but we just like to think we have some knowledge and control over what is coming up) and we make decisions that affect our lives and determine where we are headed next.  Right?  But then things change that are out of our control and we have to change with them.  Sometimes this isn’t that big of a deal but other times it is extremely difficult.

As much as I like to be in control of my life, a lot of times it is still hard in that situation to see through the changes to the blessing or plan that God has for me on the other side.  It could be the exact opposite of what I had picked for myself, but fortunately God knows what He is doing.

I know what I’m doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for.

- Jeremiah 29:11

That is something I can rest in.  That no matter what is going on in my life, He knows what He is doing and has it all planned out.

• When you get pregnant
• When you lose your job
• When you get sick
• When someone you love dies
• When bad things in life happen
• When disaster strikes

He knows what He is doing.  Maybe you can’t tell right now.  Maybe you are scared of what is to come.  Maybe you are having a hard time leaving the worries to Him.  Whatever it is, right now, in the midst of the chaos of your life, stop and remember, HE KNOWS WHAT HE IS DOING!  He could be trying to teach you something.  He could be protecting you.  He could be giving you an opportunity.  Who knows?  He could be giving you a daughter that you can’t imagine being without!

Every time I come to a place where the future is unknown I tend to think to myself, I wish I knew what God had in store for me.  If He would just give me a map to follow or a list of places or whatever.  I don’t know how many times I have thought that.  I wish I knew where He wanted us to live.  I wish I knew when He would give us babies.  I wish I knew where He wanted me to work.  If only I knew I would feel safe.  I wouldn’t feel vulnerable.  I would know what was ahead.  I could prepare for it.  But that’s not how life is.  The more I think about this, the more I realize that there is reason for us to not know what is coming up.

If we had this roadmap or knew what was coming ahead, we wouldn’t have to rely on God.  He might be orchestrating things in the background but we wouldn’t realize how in need of Him we are.  We have to trust Him.  We have to trust that He is our Jehovah-Jireh or our Provider.  We have to trust that He is our Jehovah-Nissi or our Protector.  If we knew what was coming up next, how would we ever be able to focus on what God is teaching us now?  I know that if I had known what was coming in many occasions in my life, I would never have been able to learn what it was that God was teaching me by going through the situation I was so desperately looking past.

For those of you going through one of those times when it seems like all you pray for is to move on to the next season or you just can’t stop looking to what is next, trust Him.  Trust that what it says in Jeremiah is true.

I know what I’m doing.
I have it all planned out—
plans to take care of you, not abandon you,
plans to give you the future you hope for.

- Jeremiah 29:11 (MSG)

Know that in these times, the people that love you are there with you, but more than that, you have a God who is ALWAYS there with you.  Sometimes we just need to be reminded of that.  Put your trust in Him and stop looking for the “TV Guide channel of life” to find out what is coming up next!  He already knows.  Learn from your current situation.  He won’t let you down.

I may have blogged about this before, but I really don’t remember.  I could look it up, but I would rather write it out since for some reason it is on my mind tonight.

Look at this picture.

Despite the awesomeness of this picture, what does it make you think of?  No I’m not talking about how insanely gifted you were at building the coolest Lego stuff as a little kid.  No heaven isn’t made of Legos (although I could play with them for all of eternity).  And no, the Bible wasn’t actually happening with Lego people either (also would be really cool).  No, I don’t know if Judas was the bald guy and that he betrayed Jesus because he was the only one without hair and Jesus didn’t give him a miracle of newly acquired long curly locks.  Well, maybe it doesn’t hit you like it hit me.  Maybe God is just teaching me something different than He is you.  I’m sure that is entirely possible.  For me, for some reason (this time), I saw this picture and I thought about how we try to build our own God and try to make Him fit into our own little box or our life.

How many times when we are faced with big decisions to we try to find a verse that in a certain version says “then God told them to go to the palm trees” or something else crazy like that?  How many times do we try to get our way with God?  We try to convince Him that we know what is best for us and that it should be part of His will.  Why does it get so easy sometimes to fall back into justifying why He should give us exactly what we want, when we want it?  Yeah, I know it’s a long way from Legos, but for some reason this is where God brought me.  Jeremiah 29:11 says that He knows the plans that He has for us.  He isn’t an idiot.  I’m the idiot!  He doesn’t need my help to plan crap out.  He knows what’s best for me and my family.  He knows what type of housing we will be living in come July.  He knows when we will have a baby.  He knows when my wife will quit her job and when she will find the perfect one.  He already knows all that!

So am I saying we shouldn’t pray for things?  No.  Should we pray vague prayers of “Lord, we love You, thank You for this food, oh and Your will be done. Amen”?  No.  I think being specific is good.  But where is your heart when you are praying specifically?  Are we truly seeking the will of God or are we just seeking to find some God stuff in our will?  I don’t wanna pray and have God fit into my plans.  He has proved time and time again that His plan kicks my plans butt really hard!  I don’t wanna build-a-God anymore.

I do want a Lego Last Supper, though!  Anyone ever actually seen one?  If you do, please buy it for me!

What kind of plans do you try to fit God into?  How has He taught you that He is bigger than your plans?