Ever have a wrench thrown into your gears? Ever need to scrap a good plan because of some unexpected and unavoidable problem?
Sure you have. I have too.
In fact, it happened to me today when I received a call – some 800 number I didn’t recognize. I listened anyway. It was bad news.
Apparently someone somewhere decided to cancel tonight’s United Airlines flight out of South Bend. Nice. I had planned to meet for two days with the ten pastors of the largest United Methodist Churches in the country. We were going to meet with CEO’s and national business leaders to discuss the future of the UMC in America. But my trip to Houston is canceled.
Sometimes our best laid plans fail. What we had planned to do, we can’t do.
So, what do we do then?
Maybe what we should do is pray Reinhold Niebuhr’s Serenity Prayer. It goes like this…
"God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.
Amen."
Proverbs 3, 5-6 - Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will direct your paths.
We need a GCC plane. That would be awesome:) Then you guys could travel with no problems:)
Posted by: Justin | February 11, 2009 at 06:13 PM
Pastor - God has a plan....
Posted by: Jennifer Prawat | February 12, 2009 at 03:49 PM
Well God we do ask you for your ever so calming spirit to speak to us, and again as we think about "your ways being better than our ways" we ask you to open our eyes to your ways? what do you want us to learn today? thank you so much for all you have in store for us..... we look forward to it!
Blessing upon you
RW
Posted by: Ron Windbigler | February 13, 2009 at 09:12 AM
One of my favorite prayers. Tough, but powerful.
Posted by: kristin | February 13, 2009 at 09:52 PM