We Make Plans... God Laughs?

If you grew up in church you are probably familiar with the old church van. I am not sure if it was a denominational requirement or just built into the fabric of the universe, but every church had one. I am sure they were bought new at some point, but you never saw a new one. They were all barely running death traps that ran on hopes and prayers. Every ride may be your last. If you think I'm exaggerating, there was a time when insurance companies stopped insuring these vans for churches.

Things changed as I got older. I went from being the kid in the back of the van praying we would live to be the adult piloting the old van praying we would live.

Every summer I took students to summer camp, and this always included piling in an old church van. One particular year we did camp at a Christian music festival in Pennsylvania... a ten-hour drive from Charleston, SC. This would be the ultimate test for the old church van. You see, I knew that our old church van was struggling with overheating, but I had a plan. I did everything in my power to prepare it for the trip. Oil change, coolant change, and a radiator refresh. I even had a mechanic look it over and he gave me the thumbs up. We would take it slow and not use the A/C. Plus God was on our side... right?

The day came, and we packed 15 teens plus their luggage into this old van for the 10-hour journey. Early on it was running a little hot, but nothing too crazy. But everything went south when we hit the Appalachian mountains. The interstate was angled like the first hill on a roller coaster. Weighed down with Dorito-filled teens and their luggage, I had the pedal to the floorboard, and we were having a hard time staying above the minimum speed. We could feel the engine heat through the floorboards and the front console. With the engine temperature gauge far past its danger zone, we had to pull off. My plan had failed.

Whatever you have done cannot compare to the stress of dozens of teens stranded on the side of the interstate. The plan to arrive in Pennsylvania that night was obliterated on the side of Interstate 26. We ended up having the van towed to a repair shop, camping in the woods for a night, and renting three sedans to go the rest of the trip the next day. This was one of the most stressful moments of my life. So stressful that to this day I compare any ministry stress I'm going through to those days.

In the end, we made it and had a great time, but it didn’t fit any plan I had made. Life is like that some times. We make plans and God laughs.

Tomorrow we turn to the moment David had a really good plan for his life. He wanted to do something nice for God. Yet, as good as his plan was, it was not what God wanted. We're going to see how even our best-made plans may not be what God wants. That can be disappointing, but in the end, we will see that what God wants is always best.