When the Right Plan is Wrong

During my quiet time this morning I was reading Luke 5:
^18 (S)And some menwere carrying on a ^[i]bed a man who was paralyzed; and they were trying to bring him in and to set him down in front of Him. ¹⁹ But not finding any way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on ^(T)the roof and let him down ^(U)through the tiles with his stretcher, into the middle of the crowd, in front of Jesus. ²⁰ Seeing their faith, He said, “^[j]Friend,^(V)your sins are forgiven you.” ²¹ The scribes and the Pharisees ^(W)began to reason, saying, “^(X)Who is this man who speaks blasphemies? ^(Y)Who can forgive sins, but God alone?” ²²But Jesus, ^[k]aware of their reasonings, answered and said to them, “Why are you reasoning in your hearts? ²³ Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins have been forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? ²⁴ But, so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins,”—He said to the ^(Z)paralytic—“I say to you, get up, and pick up your stretcher and go home.” ²⁵ Immediately he got up before them, and picked up what he had been lying on, and went home ^(AA)glorifying God. ^26 [l]They were all struck with astonishment and began^(AB)glorifying God; and they were filled ^(AC)with fear, saying, “We have seen remarkable things today.”


Man, this was such a good reminder that I don't trust God enough. I'm so used to trying to be self-sufficient and thinking I'm responsible for getting things to go "just right." Then when things don't go just right, I am frustrated with God, continually asking, why are you not doing this? Why is it taking so long for you to answer me? But the thing is, it's not that he's not answering me, it's that my "right" is really the wrong plan, so it was never right to begin with. The moment I really begin to shrug off my failed attempts and accept that God has a bigger plan in store is the moment when His peace reigns in my heart.


Thank you Lord for your patience with me, I confess my lack of trust in you and pray that you would encourage my heart to seek you. I am so in awe of the fact that everything you are doing in my life is to create the most successful route to bringing others to Christ and I feel totally unworthy of even being a part of the plan!

Is Anyone Waiting 'til Marriage?

Statistically, not really.


Although, 61% Of American teens say that they want to wait to have sex until marriage, only 11% of Americans will have one partner in their lifetime and only 4% will wait until marriage to have sex with that partner. More Americans have sex BEFORE age 15 (16%) than wait until AFTER age 21 (15%).


So what changes their minds? Well this could be part of it:
--One third (33%) of sexually actives teens 15-17 reported "being in a relationship where they felt things were moving too fast sexually" and 24% had "done something sexual they didn't really want to do." 
--More than 1 in 5 (21%) reported giving in to pressure to have oral sex in order to avoid having intercourse with their partner. 
--1/4 of high school students had drank alcohol or used drugs before their last sexual intercourse (51% admitted they tended to "do more sexually" when they were under the influence).
--60% of teen girls had their first sexual experience with a guy at least 1-3 years older.
--Overall, 1/3 of teens 15-17 reported feeling pressured into having sex, not to mention the 10% who report having been physically forced to have sexual intercourse when they did not want to at some point.


All of these numbers lead me to one thing, our sweet junior high and high school kids are under a lot of pressure to have sex. It is our role as parents/church staff/disciplers to be aware of these numbers and tell them it's okay to feel that pressure, that doesn't make you a bad person! But it also doesn't mean that you have to give in. Ask anyone who waited, it will be worth it in the end.

Do You Ever Have One of Those Days...

Do you ever have one of those days where...
-You just feel so heavy in your heart that your shoulders actually slump?
-Everyone else's happy/exciting/giddy posts on Facebook/Blogger seem to be the exact opposite of how your life is going right this minute?
-You picture yourself as Eeyore with the cloud following you around wherever you go and raining on your head and the soundtrack to your day sounds like, "dump da dummmmm" ?
-You accidentally intentionally only read blogs that identify with your special brand of sorrow and for a brief moment three hour period you allow yourself to wallow?
-You've prayed for something so much you literally don't even feel like there are any more original prayers to be prayed on this topic: you've traded the root word for every adjective you can think of, thought of all the noun/verb order switches you could do to make it sound different, gone from fancy to simple phrasing and back again, and finally just ended in "why?"
-You had a stupid fight with your spouse and you don't even know where it began but you definitely know where it ended, which is with a sick feeling in the pit of your stomach because you know it wasn't worth it in the end?
-You look back on the week and wonder where the time went and know that you didn't really get anything accomplished that you had planned and now your To-Do list is so long you could use it to wrap all your Christmas presents in December?
-You want to trust in the Lord, you really, really do, but scripture feels a little hollow and prayer feels a little one sided?
-Someone you love hurt your feelings and even after they sincerely apologize you realize that the wound hasn't healed at all, much to your (and their) chagrin?
-Whatever it is that you pray/wish/think/dream about every night when you lay your head down seems so far away that you don't even want to want it anymore?


Well, if you haven't ever had one of those days, I have, and I am, and it stinks. The funny thing is after typing up this blog I am actually starting to feel the cloud lift a little and I'm reminded of something Gary said in Community Church on Sunday: "Faith is choosing to believe that the bible is true regardless of circumstance. "


Some days all you can do is repeat the truth over and over again until you've said it so much it begins to finally make sense.


For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.
For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.
For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.
For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.
For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.
For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.
For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.

For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.