The Best Laid Plans of Mickey Mouse and Men...

48 hours before our trip to visit Mickey and Grandma in Florida, my child who never gets sick got sick. She huddled listlessly on her polka dotted bean bag chair with flushed cheeks. She fortunately doesn't have a high fever, and I am hopeful that when she awakens today, the worst will be over and we can still drive to Disney tomorrow.

We got free tickets to Disney through their volunteer "give a day, get a day" program. We were volunteering anyway, but the tickets were a nice perk. I am not a huge fan of amusement parks or spending a boatload of money for a day of noise, crowds, rides I don't like, and greasy overpriced food.... but Disney is an American Icon. No kid should grow up without having been there once. And Grandma lives an hour from there, so it seemed a good idea. Grandma is weak and weary, and I felt sure our visit would buoy her spirits. That was before we were loaded with contagion....

Many things seem to be a good idea when I plot them, and then when the actual enactment arrives, I sometimes wonder what I was thinking.....Fortunately, we will be in a Timeshare for the first few days, and will see Grandma at the latter half of the trip, so all germs should be safely off on some other unhappy child by then, possibly Asherel's cousins who are meeting us there.

I wonder why we continue to make plans when they so rarely come off as scheduled?  One of the saddest verses in the Bible involves ruined plans. Poor Job, when his sheep and cattle are destroyed, his children all killed, and then he himself covered with painful boils and wasting disease, cries out,
"My days have passed, my plans are shattered,
       and so are the desires of my heart." (Job 17:11).

I have never suffered to the extent Job did, but I can still relate. When everything seems to be caving in around me, and my plans are shattered, I almost lose the will to trudge on. But what even poor suffering Job realized in the midst of his unspeakable despair was that his Redeemer did live despite all evidence to the contrary, and ultimately, Job would see Him. How Job could utter such words of hope in the blackest of days, I find awe-inspiring. Only someone who knew His Lord intimately when the sun was shining could rely on that vision to carry him through the terrible times when the sun falls out of the sky.

I am not saying Asherel's cold is anything remotely resembling what Job endured, but sometimes our plans aren't quite what God's plans are. And I don't think God is telling us not to plan. I think perhaps He is telling us that His plan is better, and it will at times diverge from ours. And when He sends us down a path we don't think we want to walk, we sometimes just need to trust.... and alas, in Asherel's case, also sneeze.


Job 19:
 ²⁵ I know that my Redeemer  lives,
       and that in the end he will stand upon the earth.
 ²⁶ And after my skin has been destroyed,
       yet in  my flesh I will see God;