God's Plan vs. My Plan

It’s crazy when you miss an accident by 5-10 minutes. You feel a little shocked. Could have been you. You feel relieved. It wasn’t you. You feel in awe. Why wasn’t it you? I wonder about God’s plan and think, “okay, so I didn’t get into that accident…but I wonder what’s up the road.” No, I don’t live that negatively.

Two years ago this summer, a co-worker and I decided to start a small group. We meet on Wednesdays and read the Purpose Driven Life. We invited Dana into the group last year. The group has been a growing experience for sure. A lot of times, we just talk about what is going on in life and have yet to finish the book. Not that it isn’t good. We just aren’t religious about reading every week. The three of us have been pretty faithful in meeting every Wednesday but I moved to another facility about 7 miles away. Then, Dana went on maternity leave. Then, Tami became really busy with job responsibilities. We met less frequently but still had a passion for the group. Dana even mentioned wanting to bring the new baby to a meeting just to fellowship with us.

I e-mailed Tami this morning and asked if she could meet today. She said yes but asked if I could come there. Of course, I could. As I drove to our APD facility, I realized that after two years, we were finally on the last chapter of the book. We were actually going to finish it today….after two years! I felt so excited as I pulled into the drive. My phone rang. It was Tami. An emergency came up and she wasn’t going to be able to meet. Disappointed, I turned my car around and headed back to work. Satan sucks, I said under my breath.

As I drove down Levan, I suddenly had a thought. Dana. I had visited Dana and little Sophie last week. Dana wanted to come to a PDL (the name of our small group) and had wanted me to talk to Tami about it. Now that it had been rescheduled to the following week, Dana could come and finish the book with us. I called her and relayed the story. She laughed and said she absolutely wanted to be there next week for the final chapter. As I hung up with her, I smiled. Maybe it wasn’t Satan who had cancelled our meeting. Sometimes bad isn’t so bad.

I approached the intersection of Haggerty and 5 Mile, the place I had been about 10 minutes before. An accident had just occurred. Police were already on the scene and the ambulance was screaming toward the site. A woman was crying in the turn lane as another woman comforted her. It could have been me, but it wasn’t. I said a prayer for the people involved and continued on. I can’t get upset at God’s plan every time it doesn’t go my way because a lot of times, it does.