This I Believe

​This I believe; God has a plan and we, as imperfect sinful beings, have no comprehension of what that plan is. I’m not just saying we don’t know what God wants from us. He has given us a guide and laid out exactly what we are to do with this life. What I’m saying is we just don’t get it. I also could have said “God has a plan ‘for our lives’”, which he does, however, one thing I believe we need to understand is that God’s plan doesn’t always revolve around us. Maybe some life examples will bring a little clarity.

​I had one other girlfriend before my wife. It was in seventh grade. You don’t expect much from a relationship between two immature junior-highers. However, the whole experience left me with a bad taste for relationships. I was determined not to date again for a long time; not till God himself played matchmaker. I thought this would put the ball in God’s court, like “alright… you got my wish list… I’ll just wait till you drop her in my arms”. But what it really meant was I was going to be critical and hesitant to pursue any deep relationship. This is fine since I am timid by nature and incapable of making any decision whatsoever. But to determine if a girl was worth the time according to God’s will... that’s the tough one. I met my wife in my third year of high school, and didn’t decide that she was that Godly relationship I was waiting for till about six months later. We then began dating and it was another 4 years before I could decide if marrying this girl was the plan God had for my life. I didn’t expect it to be so soon. How could I have known a bad junior-high relationship experience would set me up to evaluate my relationships and ultimately have the right mindset to choose and marry my wonderful and beautiful wife? Glory be to God.

​As a second example, I will offer the story of my career path thus far. For as long as I can remember I’ve loved skiing and wanted to be a professional skier. I was always in the top of my age group in racing. Ski racing, however, is a very expensive sport. It’s not just the thousands of dollars worth of equipment needed, but to stay competitive it requires a lot of expensive training. My family could not afford it, so I was left to my own determination and will. However, in high school I got a little distracted and perhaps devoted a little too much time to the aforementioned girl I had met. I fell far behind competitors and became very discouraged. My second love was music. Maybe I could make a life of music. Sure, everyone has this dream… but our band was going to make it! No? Ok my second band maybe? No? Well I still really like playing music, but I decided maybe a “behind the scenes” job would be more attainable. I went to school in Arizona for audio engineering, and about a year later we were back in our home town where I had aspirations to work as an engineer in the one professional recording studio our county has to offer. It took about a year of interning for me to decide I really didn’t want to work there, or possibly as an engineer at all. I am now returning to school to study computer science. So one might look at all of this, cry a little, and think “what a waste”, but I believe God had more at work here. Not only did these experiences bring character and strength to both me as a person and to my marriage, but I believe God had great purpose for each deviation. For example, it was pointed out to me by a pastor that perhaps we didn’t move back home to accomplish a career in a studio, but instead to be one of the only constant sources of comfort and reassurance for my siblings who were trying to cope with their parents’ divorce. And maybe I didn’t become a professional skier because I have a competitive and sore losing nature, and that’s not who God wanted me to be. If any of my life’s road blocks hadn’t come up, I would not have been blessed the way I have by the people I have, nor would I have had any impact on them as well.

​So, what’s the lesson here? All I can say, and all I can tell myself everyday is love God with all you have (Matt. 22:37), seek his will in all things (Matt. 6:33), and fear the Lord (Job 28:28). We may not be able to comprehend his plans, but if we follow these simple guidelines from his word we might get a glimpse into the wonderful ways he makes us a part of them.

Have another drink then drive yourself home

Last night we were driving home from town. As we passed the North Mt. Shasta on-ramp, a small white car merged on in front of us. At first they were traveling under the speed limit, but soon speed up very rapidly. They also swerved slightly crossing over the right side road line. Rachel and I wondered, "is this guy drunk?" We continued to watch him as he swerved back and forth and proceeded to zoom ahead. I decided to try to catch up and get his license plate number and as Rachel was asking why I was missing our exit, I said we should call it in. I got up to 70 for a while trying to catch him, but it was no use. He was going anywhere from 80 to 100 mph. Just before our next possible exit however, we caught up to him as he must have slown down considerably. So as we passed the truck village exit Rachel got out her phone and dialed 911. The car speed off again and we couldn't see the plates. A ways ahead we saw the driver change to the fast lane to apparently pass two semi trucks. It passed at least one then we saw headlights go straight off the right side of the road. The semi stopped and as I stopped my car behind the truck I was already thinking of the things I might have to do or see and it was freaking me out. Two guys got out of the truck and were shining a flashlight down at the upside-down car. With strong accents they said, "see the fire?" There was a dancing light at the front of the car. One of the guys went and found a fire extinguisher in the truck, but the look on both their faces made it clear they had no idea what to do. So I grabbed the extinguisher and started hiking down to the car as Rachel was making another call about the fire. The gas fumes were so strong I could literally taste it. I was a bit worried the car was going to burst into flames in my face, so I just wanted to put the fire out ASAP. I covered the engine with all the contents of the extinguisher. The guy with the flashlight was half way up the hill giving me light and I guess Rachel was being asked if we could see anybody, which I was making a point of not looking in the car for fear of seeing something horrific. The guy told her "lot of blood" as he pointed towards his head. Now I really wasn't going to look. Having little to no medical knowledge, and knowing trained help was moments away, when the fire was out I was done. I really didn't want to pull someone out and end up paralyzing them for life. Plus I really didn't want to see a severed limb or head. The CHP arrived quickly and got the man out of the car. He seemed to be alright beside the bleeding head. They got statements from the truckers, Rachel and I and we were free to go. So as the story is intense and might sound like I'm awesome, I was really just a scared little girl who was the only one who knew how to use the fire extinguisher. But I feel like I would be more prepared next time. I was caught off guard, but now I feel less scared of a mangled body and more willing to actually see if I could help more. Hopefully I won't have to though.