Have you ever been told that God is not your side-kick?  I actually haven’t.  But someone should have told me that a long time ago.  

The last six months shifted the paradigm of my plans for the future.  I simply can’t plan anything anymore.  While that statement does not ring true completely literally, long-term plans of any kind have failed me nearly constantly as of late.  

God does not merely exist as my Savior.  But beyond the merely, Personal Assistant and Fulfillment Agent are not on God’s list of names.  

The evangelical circles I run in speak often of faithfulness.  My ideas of what faithfulness looks like span from logical to vainglorious.  The spectrum of my plans, thoughts, and conclusions widens as I sit and stew.  My favorite options seem more important the longer I consider them.  But we serve an intangible God with an often indiscernible plan for the future

It almost surprises me every time God does something way outside the bounds of what I thought my life and ministry would look like.

Even now, I have begun to wonder if God has the missionary life ahead for me, to leave everything behind in favor of taking His name to other tribes and tongues. Still, God won’t step in as the sidekick to my plans, and He shouldn’t.  Though obvious, I had to be reminded recently that even ministry does not center around what I think is best, proper, or logical.  God doesn’t owe me the fulfillment of my expectations, even in ministry or life calling.  Just because life has been difficult lately doesn’t mean God is preparing me for what I perceive as the “harder” life of missionary-hood.  

I should excel still more in admirable plans and godly desires, but God does not ride in the sidecar of my life’s journey.  He, in fact, drives me, though I too often perceive it not and sometimes fancy myself the driver.  So the plans must be held with an open hand as I commune with the Omniscient One.  He knows far better the road I will travel, I might as well leave the final plans of the trip to Him.  The view is always better from the passenger seat anyway.