2-24-2025

Good Morning All,

    Jeremiah 29:11; “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for wholeness and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”    

    When my oldest son was about 4 or 5, he got a chance to fly in an airplane.  It was a small two-seater that was flown by my mother’s cousin.  We took off from runway number one of Northville International Airport and we flew for a few minutes.  He liked it but wasn’t overly sold on the whole deal.  As we came around for the landing approach, the pilot slowed the engine way down and the plane began to descend.  My son’s eyes got wide, and a tiny look of terror was on his face.  He didn’t say anything, but he didn’t have to.  After we landed, he was quieter than normal.

    By the time we got back to our farm he was talking a mile a minute again.  He liked how the plane did this, and he liked looking out the window and seeing everyone’s house and the roads and so on.  Being the usual 4- or 5-year-old he looked up and finished with the standard, “That was fun dad, do you know what I want to be when I grow?”  Expecting the obvious, I answered, “No son, what do you want to be?”  He replied, “I want to be a fireman!”

    He had his plans.  I don’t know if the airplane ride didn’t sway those plans or just cemented them in place.  We all have plans.  It is amazing the percentage of students who change their major in the first year of college.  It is something like 80% change at least once.  We all have plans and they can change. 

    I remember a girl we went to college with.  She grew up on a small dairy farm and swore up and down when she graduated, she would be as far away from a farm as possible.  That was until she married a west river rancher.  Plans can and do change.  Some like these are kind of humorous; unfortunately, some are not.  Many servicemen and women return home from active duty and are wounded and maimed.  Their plans with their families change.  Couples who plan on growing old together and then suddenly one dies and the other has a change of plans.

    We all make plans, and we should, but we should always make them with the understanding of “Deo Volente,” God willing.  All are plans are dependent on God’s will because God has plans for us.  These plans are to give us a future and to give us hope.  We don’t always see these plans and sometimes we don’t even like these plans, but God’s plans are always to mold and to shape us into the disciples that he calls us to be, and his plans are to draw us closer to him and to give us eternal salvation.  We can fight God’s plans, but this only adds to the stress of our life and while we do not always see the plans as clearly as we like; we trust in God’s grace and mercy to carry us through.

Dear Father, too often we think our plans are the best when it is your plans which are in our best interest and for our future.  Strengthen our faith that we may have full confidence in our future and that we place our entire trust in you for you are our hope.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret