We all start out planning the life we want to have, but circumstances get in the way and many times causes us to veer to a different course than what we expected. What I am talking about is the vast majority of things we have no control over. Health, life expectancy, job changes, finances, relationship changes, children and just the very essence of life itself.

Sure, we can say when we are young, “I want to be an attorney or a doctor or a pastor, etc. “but many times life gets in the way of our plans. In my case, I never imagined I would be a hotel broker. I just knew my future was in the restaurant business or working for the airline. Sometimes the course you are given is not at all the course you planned.

What do you do in these situations? You can lay on couch and cry, or you can get up and run the course before you. Courses can change in a moment.  A Couple examples would be an early death of a spouse, a sick child, a business deal gone bad, an injury or any number of other possibilities. Things we have no control over. The point is we like to lay the grandest plans for our life but more times than not, that is not the plan God has for you.  One of the finest men I ever knew was Jack Ward. He was pastor and felt completely called to the job but in his late 40’s he ended up running a hotel brokerage firm where I met him. The guy who founded Holiday Inns was home builder and just decided one day on a lark to build a hotel. Henry Ford had four other jobs (careers) before he started building cars. Most of the largest companies in the world today were not planned, they just evolved from a course change.

Sometimes the new plan feels like it will literally drain the life out of you. Sometimes it is better than our plan but regardless, it is the course set before you that the only choice we have is to run that course. I saw a husband and wife the other day that were my age and they had a down syndrome daughter in her 40’s. I had to wipe a tear away. I am speculating, but when they were a young married couple, they probably had no idea that was going to be their life course.

We like to think we can choose our course, but we can’t. All we can do is determine in our hearts how we will respond to the new course. KT