Our Plans

One thing that the COVID pandemic has taught us is that we don’t have nearly as much control in life as we imagine.

Over dinner recently with friends, we were talking about what the pandemic has taught us.  There were all kinds of good lessons being learned.  A big one for me comes from the book of James.

13 Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” 14 Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15 Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” James 4:13-15

How easy it has been for decades to say, this is what we are doing in business.  Of course, this has even been the case in the church.  We called it our ministry plan.

Now hear me, I’m not down on planning, or having a plan.  I like them and they are often needed in life.  However, the pandemic has taught us these important words, “If it is the Lord’s will.”

One of our friends from Cuba visited us a few months back before the COVID pandemic.  He would regularly say, “If the Lord wills.”  Are you going to Seattle tomorrow?  Yes, if the Lord wills.  We thought it was a bit funny that he would preface everything this way.  Wow, our Cuban brother had much to teach us.

Our plans are but a mist.  May we love our Lord even more than our plans.