My plan: Take a friend to Disney World, spend a day at the beach, and play several rounds of dominoes.
The reality: Vomiting, diarrhea, and a trip to the ER.
Thomas à Kempis warned me about making plans six centuries ago when he wrote, “Man proposes but God disposes.” He sent some solid advice, but I’m going to keep proposing because I’ve also been told that God can’t steer a parked car. Plans are good as long as they are made with humility. My brilliant plans are always subject to God’s better plan.
Why did God send us a sick friend? How should I know? I’m trying to solve that puzzle from below while God is controlling all of history from above. My friend James told me, “Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go into the Magic Kingdom and then to the beach and have some fun there’—yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.’” (James 4:13-14)
Thanks, James, I’ve got it. Tomorrow, I’m going to the beach.