The Death of the Five Year Plan

If you are a planner you won't like this post, or maybe you will. In fact you may love it. I know had I started Journey five, ten or fifteen years ago I would have felt the need to develop "a plan." Now however because I am at the stage of life I am I resonate quite a bit with the following post that a friend sent me. It's a post from Craig Groeschel of LifeChurch.TV. Listen to what he says then let me know what you think.

The Death of the Five-Year Plan
When I started in ministry two decades ago, everyone I knew made five-year plans. While planning is wise and biblical, I’m changing how I plan. Instead of planning for specific buildings, campuses, staff roles, and outreach, I’m planning to be prepared for opportunities that I can’t name today. We are creating margin and planning to respond quickly to ideas that we don’t yet have.
Speed, agility, flexibility, and financial margin are far better than a detailed road map. We are in the ready position. Instead of asking God to bless our carefully crafted plans, we’re trying to be prepared to move when He speaks and guides. When people ask me what we’ll be doing in five years, I laugh. I have no idea. But I’m certain it will be more fun and more impactful than anything I could plan today.

I Choose to Trust

Often I find myself in situations where I am torn between trusting God or trying to "fix it" myself." I hate to admit it but usually I fall on the side of trying to fix it. The problem with that is that rarely can I "fix it." Consequently I find myself "stuck" and unable to move forward. Well today I am choosing to trust. I know that battle is not over, but today I rolled the people and the situations that I can't fix over to God. I know I will have to do it again and again, but for now it feels good to trust and to know that He cares about the people and the situations that I care about even more than what I care about them.

5 "Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this: 6 He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn,
the justice of your cause like the noonday sun. Psalm 37:5,6

Getting "right" with God

I’m studying today for the first message of our Jonah series at Journey. We are going to be in chapter 1 but today God spoke to me from Jonah 2:2.

In my distress I called to the Lord, and He answered me. From the depths of the grave I called for help, and you listened to my cry. Jonah 2:2

Jonah had reached a point just like the prodigal son that he just wanted to be “right” with God. He had spent three days in the belly of a “big fish” and he didn’t know if he was going to live or die but that didn’t matter. What mattered is that he was right with God, and so “. . .from the depths of the grave he called for help.”

Now notice God’s response. God heard him, v. 2. “you listened to my cry.” God will always hear us when we come to him in humility, but the problem is we often come to him on our terms, expecting him to get us “out” of our situations. Jonah on the other hand simply came to God without any expectations, without any pre-conditions and God heard him.

Do you feel like God is far from you? Like maybe He isn’t listening to your prayers? Maybe the reason God doesn’t “hear” our prayers is that we have not reached the bottom yet. Unlike Jonah and unlike the prodigal son, we are too proud. Being “right” with God isn’t the most important thing. We want God for what He can do for us and not for who He is and for what we can do for Him.

If today you feel “swallowed” up by a “whale” of problems, try what Jonah did. Cry out to God in humility and know that he will hear you. He may even spit you out of your “big fish” and give you a “second” chance.

P.S. Join us this Sunday for our study of Jonah chapter 1. Note we are meeting in August at the Clubhouse at Heritage Golf Club located at 3525 Heritage Club Drive, Hilliard, Ohio (off of Rome Hilliard Rd., just South of Cemetery Rd.) Come an join us because life is a journey and no one should have to go it alone.