Scripture: Ephesians 1:1 (the Message)
I, Paul, am under God’s plan as an apostle, a special agent of Christ Jesus, writing to you faithful Christians in Ephesus.
Thought for the Day: “Oh the best made plans…” You know the experience — you’ve had something on your calendar for 6 months, and you’ve been looking forward to it. Everything is in place; the hotel reservations are made; the schedule is well designed; you’ve put some money aside so you don’t come back with a bunch of bills. The plan looks perfect, and then suddenly the proverbial wrench makes an appearance. My family had a great weekend planned. It was the first Sunday I have taken off during Advent in my 20 years of ministry, and it looked to be a wonderful and well planned getaway. But as you can guess, something occurred that was not in the plan. With that said, I was very pleased that it did not throw us off. Despite an unexpected twist added to the schedule, we had a great time.
Paul was a man whose life was fitting into God’s plan, though it sure appears like that plan continued to have numerous wrenches tossed into it, at least from Paul’s perspective. When we are talking about God’s plan (or what I like to call God’s dream for creation), we as human being tend to throw a lot of wrenches into it. With that said, God appears capable of dealing with whatever comes God’s way. And even when it looks as if the best made plans are ruined, God has a way of doing more than just salvaging a little something out of it. In fact, God is capable of making something spectacular out of what appeared to be a disaster in the making.
Prayer: Thank you, Gracious God, for bringing some pretty amazing stuff out of situations that to my eyes appeared disastrous. Amen.
