#5. There is No Plan B

I have a new favorite fictional character.  His name is “Frisson l’écureuil,” or Scaredy Squirrel in English.  Because life outside his tree is full of known and unknown dangers, Scaredy Squirrel always takes the proper precautions before venturing out into the world.

He has an emergency evacuation plan,

a plan for making the Ideal Friend,

even a plan for avoiding the creatures from his nightmares.

But in each story, when Scaredy Squirrel implements his plan, something unexpected happens.And then Scaredy Squirrel exclaims,

“This was NOT part of the plan!”

Oh, Scaredy Squirrel.  How similar we are. 

A couple of months ago, I was struggling to get through a difficult situation.  There was nothing I could do to change it, and I was tired of crying about it.  Still, something about it felt wrong to me, and I couldn't put my finger on it.  One day, I found myself crying out to God as I prayed, "God, this just isn't where I saw my life going!"

And then it hit me.  The problem wasn’t that I was on the wrong path.  I just didn’t realize which path I was on.  I thought I was headed straight, and then I rounded a curve.  God knew all along that bend in the road was coming.  He knew when I’d reach it, and He knows what’s coming next.  I didn’t somehow wander off into uncharted territory, leaving Him scrambling to find another pathway for me, a “Plan B.” 

There is only ever one plan:  God’s plan, Plan A.  We can choose to drag our feet or make a pit stop or even turn around and walk in the opposite direction for a while, but He alone knows where our path leads, and He promises to get us to our destination (Proverbs 16:9).  He also promises that His path is better than the one we would have chosen, even though it might look questionable to us (Jeremiah 29:11, Romans 8:28). 

If I can’t imagine a better path than the one I’m on, it’s because my mind is too small.  I haven’t seen all the pathways that are out there.  I might be satisfied with this one, because it’s relatively smooth and there are no snakes or spiders.  But God not only made the map; He made the forest, too.  He knows all the paths, and He knows which one is mine.  He also knows it’s the best one for me.  If I would try to hop on someone else’s path because it looks nice from here, I’d end up at the wrong destination.

If my friend Scaredy Squirrel had stayed in his tree, he would never have discovered his hidden talent.  If he had waited for the 100% Ideal Friend, he would have missed out on another truly great friendship.  And if he had continued to stay up all night to avoid his bad dreams, he would have lived the rest of his life with “decreased energy, memory loss, sleepiness, moodiness, weak reflexes, hallucinations, and confusion.”  :-)

And if I spend my days wishing for what someone else has, I’ll miss out on what God has for me.  I don’t want that.  I don’t want Plan B.  I want Plan A—so no matter how long it takes, no matter how winding the path seems, I’ll keep walking, because I know it will take me where I need to go (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24). 

...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 1:6 

#4. Remind Me Who I Am

After years of collecting and months of procrastinating, I have finally finished my first T-shirt quilt!    It’s very soft and cozy, but the best thing about it is that every shirt represents a memory—whether it’s a place we visited once on vacation, a yearly family event, or a reminder of a short-lived, just for funsies, moderately unsuccessful music career.

As I look at all of these shirts, they remind me of who I was then, and who I am now.  In some ways, I haven’t changed a whole lot; but in other ways, I’m a totally different person. 

This is the shirt I bought in high school when I spent 3 weeks in a summer program at Mizzou.  I wanted to be a veterinarian.  I changed my mind.

This is the shirt I designed for our dorm in college.  No, they’re not kissing lips…the shirt had Proverbs 31:26 on the back.

This was the first year I taught the Bible lessons at Junior Camp.  It was  also my favorite year, because I came up with the theme myself.  We talked about the names of God.

And these were from the summer that changed my life.

After my first year of teaching, I had left that job with plenty of time (I thought) to find another one.  I filled out so many applications, sent out so many letters.  I had interviews and even some offers, but I still had no idea where I was supposed to go or what I was supposed to do.  I was in waiting mode, but I didn’t want to waste the time.  So I called it my “Summer of Service”—kind of like Seinfeld’s “Summer of George,” but a little bit cooler, I thought.  ;-)  Junior Camp, VBS, mission trip to Chicago with the senior high youth group, and then senior high camp.  I think somewhere in the back of my mind, I thought that if I gave God my whole summer, then He might reward me with some amazing life guidance for my future.  It turns out, He did, but not in the way I expected.

I can’t really explain how God worked in my heart that summer, but it was the beginning of a new perspective for me.  My world had been so small before, and by working with some of the different ministries that we did in Chicago, I started to see the great lengths to which God will go to bring His lost children home.

I realized how limited I’d been in my search to find His purpose for me.   I wanted Him to tell me in which one of a few specific schools He wanted me to teach English.   I realized I needed to be willing to go wherever and do whatever He wanted me to do.  That thought was terrifying to me, but I knew it was right. 

At senior high camp, the theme was “Meant to Live.”   In our morning devotions, we looked at the lives of Jim Elliot, Pete Fleming, Ed McCully, Nate Saint, and Roger Youderian, missionaries killed in Ecuador who said, along with Paul, “To live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:20-21).  I didn’t quite understand how a person could get to that point, but I knew I wanted to be there, so I made this during craft time and have kept it, more as a goal than anything else.

It’s been a slow process of change for me, but I can see evidence of God’s faithfulness over the years in my life and as I look at my quilt now.  I'm grateful that He continues to remind me who I am, because I can so easily forget.  It took seven years, but now I can confidently say that for me as well, “To live is Christ, and to die is gain.”  I’m so ready to go home, but as long as I’m here, it means God has more work for me to do.  So I will keep trying to serve him the best that I can, and I’ll look forward to the next lesson He will teach me.  Maybe that lesson will come with a T-shirt, and maybe it won't...I'll just have to wait and see!