Having been a pastor for over 35 years I have been through a gamut of “do-this-and-you-will-succeed” ideas.  I am not talking about just the church. I would love to have all the money I spent running to this or that conference learning all the latest “tricks of the trade” of “How To Have a Successful Church” or “How to Have a (fill the type of church you want to have ) Church.”  I could go on but you get the idea.  I ran to leadership conference after leadership conference to find out how to be a better leader only to find that God made me to be me and I need to hone those skills that He has given me.  Again…I could go on but you get the idea.

Honestly?  I always struggled with the “Set a Goal of 1-3-5-10 years” or whatever length is in vogue at the time. I don’t think it was necessarily because I was short-sighted, although that may have been part of the problem.  I think it was something else…something else that hit me this morning as I read from Proverbs.  In 19:20-21 it says, “Listen to advice and accept instruction, that you may gain wisdom in the future.  Many are the plans in the mind of man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.” I reckon that has been my sticking point.  I know I am supposed to listen to advice and I have tried.  I know I am to accept instruction and I have tried to do so. But, as much as I now hate to admit it, in the back of my head was this little voice that said, “Bill, what is the use of planning ahead so far.  God is going to do His thing anyway so why worry about it?”  How’s that for leadership motivation?   Let me ease your brain somewhat…it isn’t.  Like many young pastors I was full of dreams when I started out.  I am sad to say that many of them never came to fruition.  I am also happy to say that many of them never came to fruition.  If I had my own way, I would have missed an incredible ride!  Like a roller coaster at Cedar Point, my ministry has had some wild and crazy ups and downs and I would have missed many of them if God has simply done what I had planned out.  “Thank you Father for not letting me live my life to my blueprint!  Yours had a whole bunch of nuances that I never would have figured into the drawings.”   For a further look into what I have come to conclude is where I need to be, take a look here at this post by a new blogging friend.   Not only does he absolutely nail it, he nails it with my favorite portion of Scripture in the OT.

Has your life gone according to your blueprint?  If not, what have you learned along the way that can increase my learning in this area?  How have you coped with the change of plans?  I would love to hear from you.