Sunday, February 15, 2015

I love it when a plan comes together...especially when it's not my plan

Yes, this is another blog about God. Jesus. Lord. Father -  the one that created all of this and the one that sets in motion each and every cog and gear in this unbelievably complex and gigantic puzzle. This post is about His amazing timing in this place we call home.

Tonight I am writing on the topic of timing and how, if left to our own devices, we will generally tend to screw up the timing of one thing or another throughout the course of our day.   Even you punctual people have to admit that if someone were telling you exactly where to be and precisely when to be there, you could have had better timing, for at least one instance in your life.

Tonight was like many other nights driving Uber in Indianapolis.  I went online a bit later than normal after a wonderful movie date with my beautiful bride, and wound up mostly being around downtown for a majority of the evening. Around 1:15 or so I start to think about shutting it down and heading back home; mind you I am still downtown so I begin to do what any good Christian would do at this point, and pray, that the Lord will provide me a trip somewhere north.  I tend not to be greedy so I usually pray something like this:

"Dear Lord, thank you for a profitable evening. I would like to head back home, so if you'd like to give me a trip north, that would be great, if not, that's great too. Your will Lord, not mine, Amen."

[Please reference my earlier blog about praying this prayer, being the last car in Broad Ripple on one evening, then having to drive some dudes to Greenwood.  Bummer!  I put this note here so you can see that even though I am a Christian, I understand that God's timing is not always my timing, and it just did not work out in my favor (that I know of) for that particular evening.]

Back to the topic at hand - I say "Amen" and sixty seconds later I get a trip heading north. "Hooray, I love it when a plan comes together."  After dropping off a few dudes and their dates in Broad Ripple I'm like, okay that was convenient, I'll go towards the strip and see what's happening. Maybe head home, maybe hang out. Who knows.
I park in front of the giant comb at Monkey's Tail for a minute and another request rolls in.   This couple is going a few blocks off the strip; or are they?  The guy lets himself out a few blocks away and tells me I'm taking his girlfriend back downtown to her apartment. Back downtown?!  What?! This wasn't my plan.  Now I'll have to drive back home with an empty car! (it is 2:15 by this time, and I'm not in the mood to wait around another 45 minutes for closing time)

I drop off this girl at her place and before I can finish my thought and get a game plan of what to do next, I turn onto Mass Ave to find it...,,,.deserted. Completely and utterly deserted.  I drove 3 blocks without having to touch my brakes, and if you've ever driven on Mass Ave, Uber or not, you know that is no easy accomplishment.

Another minute or two goes by and DING!  Oh hooray. A request:
"Hi Cole, this is David with Uber, I just want to confirm you're at 608 Massachusetts Avenue..."
  -"hi David, yes we're at Pizzaology" 

"Great, thanks for confirming, I'll be there in just a minute."

I park in front of Pizzology, stopping in the middle of Mass Ave to open the door for my passengers, because this is what I do and because I can get out of my car on Mass Ave without being honked at!
I hit the [Begin Trip] button, and to my wonderful astonishment, their address is Zionsville,

All I can say at this point is, "I love it when a plan comes together, especially when it's not my plan."
The Bible talks about "enduring" and "endurance" and I think sometimes this is read too much into; like we should have some big struggle that we have to fight through so that we can share our testimony with others and they will want to know God more, because we are enduring this great battle.  Sometimes, friends, enduring is simply not hitting that "off'" button the moment you feel like it. Sometimes enduring is waiting on the Lord's perfect timing, even when you don't feel like it.  I could have easily gone offline in Broad Ripple and made the drive home by myself, but I didn't. I decided to let the Lord work in me and through me, and because of this I feel that he blessed me with a small glimpse into his perfect plan.

We are all cogs in this great machine, sometimes letting someone else be in charge is the most difficult part, however; it is what we need most - to let go of our control and allow God to use us as pieces in his amazingly timed, perfectly crafted plan.

2 comments:

  1. This was good, Wef. Needed to hear this as I am job searching and have 0 ideas...

    ReplyDelete