never change the plan

Have you ever taken the time to notice how some people you know can have a profound impact on your life, just by little things they say and do? Allow me to explain. I have a friend, well actually I have quite a few, but this is about one in particular. There are two life lessons that this friend has taught me during our years of friendship: the first being that apparently it is possible to get by without shoes; and the second that once a plan has been made, it should not be changed.

I am not a complete fan of number one, the barefoot theory. Mainly because during the summer of 2006 I decided to trial the whole not wearing shoes thing and it ended up very messy and very painful. I got a small cut on my foot, and when I say small, you pretty much needed a microscope to see it. However, within 3 days, the small cut had morphed into a volcano of puss on my left foot. It had in fact become infected and resulted in me having a tetanus injection and taking a 2 week course of antibiotics. Not fun!! so I guess you have to have a certain type of foot to survive without shoes.

Number two however, I am a very big fan of. I do understand that with some things in life you need to be flexible and that the plan may need to be tweaked slightly from time to time. But when it comes to the plan that God has designed especially with you in mind, there is no need for human hands to tweak it. I spent my school years wondering what on earth I was going to do when I left school. Policeman, fireman, paramedic, park ranger, snowboard instructor, army man, teacher, youth and community worker are but a few of the jobs I seriously considered doing. some of which I have done, some I have very nearly done and others I am still doing! But as you know, there is just so many attracting things to do in this world. These things can easily become dead end side roads, that do nothing more than distract you from the road formed and created especially for you. Perhaps I can make this clearer by taking you back, for a moment, to my childhood.

Now there is one yearly occasion that would always be looked forward to and would always produce both good and bad memories alike. I am of course talking about the summer holiday. Whilst lots of my friends went jetting off to all sorts of exotic locations around the world, my family and I would get in the car and set off for a holiday cottage somewhere out in the sticks. Please don't hear me wrong, even though I would have loved to go to Disney world, I loved my family holidays and wouldn't trade them for anything. However, there was always one part of the holiday that would usually result in everyone falling out: the journey there. It was one part of the journey in particular that would cause the mass fallout. We would be fast approaching our destination, having carefully followed the directions for the whole 4 hour journey and then Mum would strike! She would decide that even though the carefully planned directions had gotten us that far that she would devise a shortcut to get us the rest of the way. As you can imagine, these shortcuts, without fail, ended with the 4 of us sat sulking and, at the end of a dead end, one way track and halfway into a farmers' field. So without fail, we would always have to go find our way back on track, consult the original plan and get on our way again.

As I said in my previous blog, God has a plan for our lives and if we don't follow it then things go quite horribly wrong. There have been many times in my life that I've questioned whether I am up to the things that God has called me to. The amazing thing is that over the last 6 months. God has made it quite clear that I am. He has given us all specific gifts which He fully intends us to use. Once you have figured out what God is calling you to do then do it with all your heart, mind, soul and strength and you will be amazed at the wonders you see. Do not be tempted to deviate from the plan.

If you feel you aren't up to it then fix your eyes on Jesus and let Him assure you that you are. If someone tells you that it is just a pipedream that you will never live up to, ignore them, fix your eyes on Jesus and let Him assure that you will. If you feel that you aren't good enough then fix your eyes on Jesus and let Him assure you that you are!

"In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." (Philippians 1:4-6)

engage the journey

So here I am, writing my first blog, how splendid! Let's start with something that I used to find bizarre and offensive: Movies that put the end of the film at the start. I mean, that's just wrong, isn't it? I would become so consumed with frustration that I could not enjoy the film. The simple fact that I had paid 6 english pounds for the ticket, 3 for the bag of revels and 3 for the drink that is stupidly oversized but you just feel you have to have (regardless of the fact that it will make you miss 5 minutes of the movie somewhere between the start and finish because your undersized bladder simply cannot take that kind of liquid punishment) only to discover that I am watching the end of film straight after the opening credits, was enough to put me off watching the rest of it. What would be the point? I've already seen the end. More recently my view has changed though. The "finish at the start film" has well and truly won me over. It was stupid of me to think that just because I knew the end I couldn't enjoy the film. Infact, it now makes for a more exciting film: I know where it's all heading but I have no idea what will happen along the way; or how we'll get there.

My life and journey with God is just like that. Jeremiah 29:11 says "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." There have been times in my life when I thought that I knew best - that my way was the only way - my plans would bring me success - my dreams I should chase. Let me save you some time if you're thinking of putting your plans, hopes and dreams above God's. I KNOW that God's way is best. That He does have plans for my life that are beyond my imagination. Do I believe that God created life? Do I believe that that same God stepped down from heaven, to become a man and suffer and die at the hands of those He had created so that I could know Him personally? Do I believe it is true when He said "...I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full"? The answer is 100% yes. That being the case, is it possible for me to draw up a blueprint for my life that comes anywhere close to comparing to the one God already holds in His hands?

God has a great plan for my life and I learn more and more each day, through each new experience, to lean on Him. To trust Him in every situation. To proclaim that in every circumstance He is my great romance. Romans 8:28-30 "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified." God wants me to live my life like Jesus: to think, speak and act like Him.

So I now know where I am headed. My calling is to give every part of me to God so that I may become more and more like Him every day. He has revealed some parts of the plan and some of things that He is going to do with me. But to be honest, I have no idea what the journey in between knowing that God has called me to all these things and actually arriving is going to look like. But this I do know - that I am going to strive to make the most of the in between times. I do not plan to just float through life like a leaf on the wind and one day end up in heaven. God did not save me just for heaven. He wants me to have life to the full here on earth. So I will set my sights on the goal and engage fully the journey to become just like Jesus in everything I do.