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.