It will only take a little while...

Last weekend I decided to change the oil on the minivan.  I had never changed the oil on the minivan before, but I'd changed the oil on 3 or 4 of my other cars before.  The oil pan is on the bottom of the car and I could see the oil filter.  No problem.  I had already purchased the oil and the filter.  So I told my wife it should only take 30 to 45 minutes and I was ready to go.  I got the car on the ramps.  I drained the oil.  Everything is right on schedule.  

Then I put the oil filter wrench on and twisted.  It slipped.  Tried again.  Slipped again.  It didn't fit.  I pulled the new oil filter out of the box and slipped it into wrench.  It fit.  Tried on the old filter again.  Too loose.  Aaaagggh!!!  To make a long story short I spent at least an hour and a half on a job that should have taken just 30 minutes.  

Why do things never seem to go according to plan?

We make plans every day.  And whether it's planning our vacations to planning dinner to planning a surprise party, something inevitably does not follow the plan.  It could be a tire going flat while you're out of town (Branson this past May).  Maybe you bought low moisture cheese (It doesn't melt???).  Or coming down an escalator to see your parents and daughter when they're supposed to already be in the restaurant waiting to say "Surprise!" for my wife's surprise lunch for her 30th birthday (I'm still shocked they weren't already in the restaurant.)  We make these plans and hope for the best.  It all usually works out.

And then there's the big plans.  Life plans.  How do you make those life plans?  Do you fly by the seat of your pants?  Or do you have your life scheduled out until just before the dirt hits the coffin?  Those plans have a way of changing themselves.  Even with the best laid plans something is going to happen.  And then you need to start planning again. 

So how can you make plans and feel safe that they won't make a wrong turn at some point?  The only way I know to do that is to stop making plans on your own.  Instead, let God make the plans.  If you're following the plan God has for your life you don't have to worry about any wrong turns.  Even when your life takes what you think may be a wrong turn God will have already planned for it and taken it into account.

I never would have imagined that I would be 30 when I met the woman I would marry.  I had always planned on being married by the time I was 25 and I'd have three kids by the time I was 30.  Let's just say that turning 30 single was a bit of a shock.  But God knew.  While I spent almost every moment of the first 30 years of my life hoping the next girl I saw would be my soul mate, God kept me grounded enough to know that they weren't.  I trusted his plan.  And my wife was worth it.  I couldn't imagine life without my family.  

"And we know that to them that love God all things work together for good, to them that are called according to his purpose."

Romans 8:28

It takes Faith to trust God that he has made his plans for our life.  That if we follow his plans everything will work out no matter how it loods to us in the moment.  God loves us and in his planning for our lives he has our very best interests in mind.  So trust him.  Let him plan for you.  You will go down a path that you weren't expecting but the results that God has in store for you will be beyond anything you can imagine.  Stay in Faith despite how the circumstances look around you.  Don't worry if the situation is bleak or even downright scary.  God knows where you are.  He led you there.  He will lead you out in a way that will amaze you and bring Him Glory.

So follow His plans and know that you'll be just fine.  Even if you still have the old oil filter on the minivan.