Do You Have A Plan?

Let's pretend we are going on a trip.

What might be some of the first questions you ask before planning a trip and deciding what to pack?  

1.  What is your budget? 
Will you be counting each penny or do you have money to burn?  Will you need to find ways to save or can you splurge a little?

2. What type of trip will it be? 

Vacation or Business? Family, couple or friend? The purpose of the trip dictates what you take.  Clothes need to be professional for a work conference and you will want to have travel entertainment if you will have kids with you.

3. Where is it? 
What will the weather be? What is the terrain?  You wouldn't pack just shorts for a snowy, mountain ski trip or take a down jacket on an island beach getaway! Destination comes into account when planning your trip.  

4.  How will you be traveling? 

Car rides accommodate for more bags while airplanes means organizing those small ounce containers for security checks.  There is also bus when the budget is small and time isn't an issue or a train for the scenic route.  You may need small bills for tips or AAA for extra security, discounts and maps on a road trip.

5. Where are you staying? 
Do you have a friend close by with room to keep you?  Do you need to book a hotel or suite if the family is with you?  How many nights do you need?  What amenities are essential for your trek?

Those 5 questions are just the beginning of the planning process.

The irony of life is we don't often consider the equivalent of these questions when it comes to our spiritual life, something much more important than a trip.  

Navigating through life can be a challenge, especially when you understand we have an enemy.

Yes, Satan is real.

I am not sure he looks like many of the depicted caricatures circuiting, especially when you read scriptures that say he comes disguised as "an angel of light" (2 Corinthians 11:14).  Satan doesn't like us.  He didn't just get kicked out of heaven because he wanted to be God, he was upset that God created us.  He was in essence the jealous older sibling after mommy has a new baby.  He wanted and still wants to take us out.

God came that we might have life and have it more abundantly.  Jesus died and came back to life to conquer for us what we couldn't conquer ourselves, but we are still walking through the battlefield of life and we need to start engaging a little more so we come out alive.

Do you know the books of the Bible and their themes?
Are you memorizing scripture on a regular basis?
Do you have and are you following a reading plan of the Bible?
Have you read the Bible in its entirety?
Do you pray on a regular basis?
Have you examined cultural influences that help in understanding what God is communicating?
Do you know your weaknesses and are you protecting them with accountability through other believers and having scripture prepared to combat temptation?

I am not asking these questions to shame you if you can't positively answer these questions - instead, I want to bring home the point that we need a plan.

So why do the questions above matter? 

Knowing the books of the Bible and their themes helps you find what you need.

Memorizing scripture allows you to have it handy.

Reading the Bible isn't the same for everyone and in this digital age there are a million plans out there to read through the Bible so there is something for everyone, and reading the Bible consistently gives you that link to our Savior.

Reading the entire Bible takes about 80 hours but most plans do it over one to two years.  Reading the whole thing can be challenging, especially some passages, but it is a story and reading all of it is crucial to understanding the story and the purposes of Christ.

Prayer is our connection and communication with our God, and in war time soldiers need to have communication with their leader if they want to survive their enemy.  This is such a crucial tool in our belt.

The Bible wasn't written alongside the Declaration of Independence.  It is older than that and was written on soil on the other side of the world. The Bible wasn't written but often interpreted through Western culture and that is a mistake.  Many customs in the Middle East haven't changed much from the way they are today.  Context is also key in understanding what the Bible is all about.  Take the time to check it out.  Need some resources?  Let me know!  Happy to point you in the right direction.

Remember that enemy well he know humans really well, he's been roaming the earth for some time now.  We all have weaknesses and he knows how to prey on us, not to mention we are pretty good at self-sabotage.  Knowing ourselves, and our weaknesses, helps us to protect ourselves.  Having an accountability partner helps us to grow and keeps us honest about our journey.

Do you have a plan?  Where are you with each of these categories?  Can you up your game just a bit in each area?  If you don't have a plan, its time to get one!  

They Don't Belong to Me

They Don’t Belong To Me

Right out of college, I spent a year in a Discipleship Training School (DTS), which if you don’t know, is basically Bible classes and internship combined that you don’t get paid for and in fact, have to raise money to pay your bills while there. 

My DTS was not only a Bible training but counseling training as well.  Part of our internship portion was living and working in a residential care facility for troubled teens.  

Until that year, I always felt being a foster parent would be too challenging for me because I didn’t think I could say get attached then say goodbye to a child. My year of DTS challenged that presumption, as teens were often taken to other places abruptly as seen fit by their parents or counseling team.  It wasn't uncommon to wake up or return from an errand to discover a teen had been moved to another facility and was no longer with us.  It was hard.  I learned to love some of these teenagers as if they were my own children.  The thought of not getting to say goodbye crushed me, and did a few times.  

But I learned through that experience a very valuable lesson.

Those teens didn’t belong to me or even their biological parents.  Each one belonged to God.  Even if some of what they were subjected to by other humans was traumatic, God still loved them and had a plan for their lives. 

It wasn’t my job to ensure God's plan happened; it was my job to love and train them in the time that God had them in my care. This really aided me as I transitioned into the role of youth pastor.  I was able to take advantage and make the most of the time I had to love on and train the teens in my path.  

This truth became a challenge for me after birthing a child.  As you venture through pregnancy, a connection develops with the human living inside your body. A woman houses that baby for 9 months, that is three-quarters of a year!  (Or fight in court for the baby you are about to adopt for months, even years on end). Next, you give up every single moment to the helpless angel who needs you constantly in the midst of its simplistic eat, sleep, poop lifestyle.  Even with the exhaustion and stench from your own, showerless body - you can’t help but love your child.  The sleepless nights get exchanged for a million other challenges you face each day over eighteen years and its easy to think…

THIS KID BELONGS TO ME!

God had to remind me, that those children that came from my body (or from a court process) still are his.  I am the guardian not the owner. Knowing I have my kids on loan provides me with some great accountability.  I have to answer to God one day for how I “trained up” (Proverbs 22:6) his children. 

Parenthood can be a helpless existence as our kids face sickness, disease, injuries, emotional traumas, relational issues and for some, even death.  We don’t have control often in the things our kids go through, but when we keep the proper perspective of their ownership we experience a freedom in the knowledge that they belong to an all-powerful God who loves them and has a plan.  It doesn’t always make sense and can even seem like God has forgotten or is no longer there.  

That is why the story of Joseph (Genesis 37 - 50) resonates so much with me.  In the beginning of the story, this boy is subjected to great injustice, even cruelty, but knowing the whole story you see that God used the horrible to bring about not only wonderful but salvation for multiple nations.  

We live these timelines and we try to define each moment and yet sometimes the best endings come through the strangest and hardest of paths.  

You will screw up as a parent, spouse, employee, boss, friend, and even human, but God is bigger than that. He fills in our gaps and leads us to places we never imagined if we hang on through the tough stuff.  

Knowing he is the owner of our kids and our lives can free us to be the people we were made to be and give us peace in the midst of tragedy and loss.