Good Veteran's Day!

Good Veteran's Day to you! Goals are important; goals are fine, but God is in charge of me and mine. At times we may come to realize that a goal is not going to be met or perhaps is not even possible for us to fulfill. The day we set the goal we knelt down in prayer and asked God's blessing on our goal setting. We listened as the Holy Spirit guided our steps, and we set that goal. Now, months later, that goal looks impossible. What went wrong? It may be that nothing at all went wrong.

We do not know all of God's ways and plans. It seems odd to say it from my worldly trained point of view, but there may be times in your life that God's goal for you was only to go part way down some path to a goal you set. The lesson God wanted you and me to learn may not lie at the end of our goal. We grow up with the thinking that every goal must be met, every dream is possible (in our own strength no less!), all the riches and fame will come to those who work hard enough. Then the childhood dreams, the teenage goal setting, and the idle wishes begin to fall one by one. What did that child do wrong? Again, perhaps the child did nothing at all wrong.

When we come to Christ and give up control of the life we have so bounded by goals, dreams, and wishes, He may have different plans for us. Plans that are not bounded by what we think is possible or even necessary to accomplish. One command of Jesus comes to mind: "Abide in me..." Just abide, that's all? My dictionary has an old use for abide: live in a place. Simply live in Jesus? There it is. No list of what must be done today or tomorrow. No long range plans or grand goals; just abide in Christ.

Goals are good and plans are great when we bring them to God. We will accomplish great things in Christ as we live in Him. However, if that one goal you cherished is not going to happen, or just seems like it may not happen, remember that Jesus the Christ has not changed. His love for you and me is still of overwhelming potency. His grace has not stopped working like one of our machines. His faithfulness is still what we can fully trust in. Praise the name of our Lord Jesus!

Bucky