"For I know the plans that I have for you" declares the Lord. We often cling to this prophecy in Jeremiah 29 when we don't know what the immediate or distant future holds for us. In this verse we often focus on our own plans. We focus on the job plans, the school plans, the marriage plans, the kid plans, the home plans...what about the way we fit in to God's plan. He ordains those plans too. It is not just about God knowing where we will go to grad school or when we are going to get an accepted offer on a house. It is about God knowing where He can use us to show His grace and spread His love.
A few years ago, back when I was in high school, my family and I stopped at Arby's after church. We often grabbed lunch at Arby's or Culver's near our church when we had something to do right after church. On this particular Sunday we were headed downtown Milwaukee to the Domes. The Domes, for non-Milwaukee natives, are three large domes that contain botanical gardens. I believe on this Sunday I was playing for a St. Patricks Day event. So we stopped at Arby's to fuel up before heading downtown.
There was a young man who worked at this Arby's - we will never know his real name - so we'll just refer to him as Arby's guy. Arby's guy was a notorious mumbler. After "Welcome to Arbys..." you couldn't understand anything he said. So orders would often get jumbled up. You could always expect to get something different that what you intended to order. It happened to us that day, and we ended up with an extra free sandwich, courtesy of Arby's. None of us needed this sandwich so we just held on to it for later, and we headed downtown.
Milwaukee is a wonderful place. It has rich culture. It is also a place where God is at work. There is a lot of brokenness and poverty, just like many places across the country. God is at work through many people, churches and missions, helping to feed the hungry and to give the homeless a place to belong. As we drove downtown that day there was a man standing on the side of a bridge with a sign. I can't tell you exactly what it said, but I know it was something about food.
This bridge was not an easy place to pull over on our journey downtown. We were a few lanes over from the man, and we were not able to stop. But I can remember my brother saying, I want to give that man our sandwich. My dad had to keep driving, but he promised we would swing back that way after we were done at the Domes to see if the man was still there.
About two hours later it was time to leave, and my dad made good on his promise. We drove around the same way, this time in the lane closest to the side of the bridge that the man would be on. And he was still there. We were able to pull over, roll down the window and give him the extra Arby's sandwich.
God has a perfect will and a perfect plan laid out for our lives, and the lives of others, each day. He knows that a messed up fast food order for a family who attends church in Brookfield, will provide a long-awaited lunch for a man living on the streets of Milwaukee.
No coincidence. The Author and Perfector knows the words before He pens them. He knows our stories. Each and every detail.
I know that I am a planner. You don't have to give me a personality test to help me figure that one out. And when things don't go according to plan...watch out! But I step back, and I realize that I was created by the ultimate planner. One who has laid it all out from the beginning. The Planner who can take the willings and the doings of broken people and weave them back in to His will and His purpose.
~SP
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