On my calendar 

I like to have something on my calendar to look forward to, to anticipate and plan for.  Without this I would have to find new ways to lose sleep at night. I have a countdown app on my smarter than me phone that I plug event dates and details into so that I can, at a glance, know what I should prioritize.  For instance I know that it is 86 days until Easter but I have to push that back in my mind because in 43 days I have a relaxing beach trip planned and in 21 days I have a weekend with my Ladies of the 80’s.  But in 55 days I will have a Day Adventure with some Christian Ladies.

I love to make plans.  Travel plans. Party plans.  Weekend plans.  I plot out the travel. The food in route and the food in celebration. The lodging down to who sleeps where and when. I plan the activities making sure we have tickets, that we know where to park, and we show up on time.  

Once we took a big family trip to California to go to Disneyland, Hollywood, Santa Monica pier and the beach.  These are only the highlights as there was so much more to see!  I arranged the flights, chose the seats, and bought a stroller for the two smallest grandchildren. I packed the snacks, printed the boarding passes, and tagged the luggage.  I rented the 15 passenger van that was our transportation for the week, booked the hotel rooms, and plotted the routes.  I scheduled the day plans, bought the entry tickets, and made sure everyone knew what shoes were appropriate for each day’s activities.  I even printed it all out in itinerary form highlighting pertinent information and details.  And yes, there was a PowerPoint presentation.

Then in a stroke of genius I thought it would be great to let my then grown children own part of the details.  I assigned each of them a day to make the lunch plans for all of us. They knew where we would be around lunch from the detailed agenda printed and provided as part of their travel packet.  They simply needed to find the day they were assigned, see where we would be and choose a restaurant from the neighboring area. 

I don’t think I could even begin to layout how this idea was an epic fail. We were never where I thought we would be when I thought we would be there. We didn’t know where we would be until we were there. We never knew what the parking would be or how long the walk was going to be.  And without exception we were starving long before we realized what we didn’t know.  

To this day we joke about the pizza place that my daughter in law, Melody, chose.  It was some trendy, vegan, hippie pizza with arugula and oil and “chicken”. I later learned that any time quotes are around a meat that it is not meat at all.  

We left there in our 15 passenger van hungrier than ever but laughing.  

Other fails of this trip included the suitcase mix up before we ever left Dallas leaving us to shop for clothes for Brian as soon as we arrived in California.  The van pickup site not being a walkable distance from the airport. This left most of us waiting at the airport while Brian and the others took a cab to go get the van. Small children were not happy with this situation.  The reservation at the hotel was a little messed up and the hotel was a good hour from the attractions we were there to see.  Tyler got out of the van in San Juan Capistrano, and backed into a loaded cactus with his shoulder.  You know that didn’t end well.  The stroller for the boys was too big for plane side check in.  The beach was beautiful but the water was so rough we could hardly walk into it.  My intentions were always good.

In my old King James Bible I always keep two things on page 1069. A love note from my oldest son, Tyler, and a picture of my youngest son, Stacey.  In my bible also on that page, I have highlighted Jeremiah 29:11 with a note that reads, “Levi’s first sermon 7/20/11”. These are all special to me in varied ways that I will not speak to just now. 

Jeremiah 29:11 is a well known, often repeated, frequently preached verse. “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.”  Some bible versions use the word “plans” instead of “thoughts”.  I am no theologian; Hebrew is Greek to me, but if I understand correctly the word translated to “thoughts” in the KJV can be translated as “plans”, or “intentions” as well.  

Whichever translation you are comfortable with I think we can agree that God’s thoughts are active.  This is not a “Thinking of You” Hallmark card that He sends when I miss church or forget to pray.  I don’t simple pop in  and out of God’s mind randomly when a memory is triggered.  He chooses to think about me.  He is intentional.  He has a plan for me. 

Additionally, He thinks about me a lot.  In Psalms (40:5 and 139:17-18) it says His thoughts of me can not be counted.  They are innumerable. They are more than the sands of the sea.  I hate to derail a perfectly clear thought,but wow!  The omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent God has thoughts, plans, and intentions for me that outnumber the grains of glasslike dirt that line the ocean floors and spill over onto the playgrounds of the ocean’s edge. 

If you were paying attention to the previous paragraphs you may have noticed that I didn’t type us as much as I typed me.  Although in our passage God was talking to the exiled Jews as a whole, He does not only extend thoughts towards us as a people or as a group, but as a person.  I am not a number to God.  He knows me personally and thinks of me individually.  In Psalms 139, David is speaking as an individual, not a people when he says, “How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! How great is the sum of them!” (v17)

And the bow on top, the lipstick, the icing, the gravy, or whatever cliche’ you use for the bonus is His thoughts are good.  He wants good for me.  God is not against me.  He wants me to live in peace and hope.  His thoughts are precious. It says in Isaiah 55:8-9 that God doesn’t think the way I think.   I don’t understand His thoughts, His intentions, or His plans. Even when it seems He has lost track of me, or misplaced me, even when I feel unnoticed, and forgotten, I have to trust His heart.  I believe it was quoted of Charles Spurgeon, “God is too good to be unkind and He is too wise to be mistaken.  And when we cannot trace His hand, we must trust His heart.”