Isn’t this how life usually works? You are laying out all the grand plans for your life, when life itself interrupts and says, excuse me, this is how it is going to go.

How many husband and wife’s have had the unexpected baby added to their family. They thought all the children were born and in high school or college only to find out, wait a minute, we are having another child. How many people have thought this job would be the last job, this house would be the last house, this relationship will be the last relationship, and I will do this or that in life only to find out that God has a different plan. On a sad note, how many people die unexpectedly? If you are a 134 years old, it may be expected but no one plans for an early death.

Therefore my point is that many times, life is what happens while you are busy making other plans. When I started in business, I used to be a goal setter. At the beginning of the year I would write out sales goals and income goals and have a great plan all written out. It never turned out like I planned. Along about the 3^rd year of selling hotels, I stopped setting goals and chose rather to just be available and go where the year took me. I was much happier that way than trying to write it all out and pretending I could predict the future.

To some people, goal setting is a good and needed thing but for others it becomes much more problematic. In some situations it can even work against you. If your income is steady, I think setting financial goals of how much to save, how much to give etc. is a very good thing. If your income is not predictable, it changes how you plan for the future.

Sometimes it is the unpredictable things in life that are the sweetest. It is having your children or grandchildren come by unexpectedly even though it changes your plans for that day. It is like you and your spouse, friend or child just deciding spur of the moment to go out to dinner. It is like Friday afternoon just deciding to go somewhere for the weekend. Sometimes being too rigid in our planning keeps us from the spontaneity of the moment.

I believe the main point is to recognize how little control our plans actually have over our future and we need to recognize who is the master planner of our future. KT

Sometimes it is hard to find Joy even though you have all the reasons why you should have it. It can be elusive. It can be close but just out of reach. It can be seen but still be unattainable. Joy is hard to get and sometimes even harder to hang on to.

The pressures of life, family and work many times crowd out peace and joy. If only there was a light switch to turn it on, it would be easier for us to obtain.

Here is the light switch. The most important point is to follow what you believe, not what you feel. Let me say that again. Follow what you believe, not what you feel. Feelings will mislead you. So, back to the joy light switch. Wait a minute, I need to tell you one more thing. Your first thought will be to discount what I am about say as hogwash so just do this for one day where no one can see you. What will it hurt to do this one day? After you do this one simple thing, you will know in your heart what I am saying. So on with it.

Stand in front of a mirror at home or look in your rearview mirror when you get in the car. Make sure to look at yourself when you say this. If you are in the car, trust me, people will just think you are on your Bluetooth or hands free phone. Look in the mirror, smile as big as you can and say “I am a child of God and I choose that this day will be full of joy.”

Many times we let our physical man lead our spirit man because of what we feel. It is supposed to be the spirit man leading the physical man because of what you believe.

Give it shot. What do you have to lose? KT

The great old Baptist hymn Amazing Grace, was written in 1779 by John Newton. For many people over the 236 years the song has been repeated, there is a part that speaks to each person. That part for me is the end of the second verse that reads “the hour I first believed.”

I think we all know that salvation is not triggered when you walked down the aisle in a church or shake the pastor’s hand. For many, that is the point in your personal life when you made your decision public. For others, that is in fact the hour you first believed. You heard the word and believed it in your heart. The moment salvation happens is the moment and hour that you became a believer in Jesus Christ as the son of God.

I walked down the church aisle and made a public profession of faith when I was but a wee lad. I was probably 5-6 years old. My personal salvation experience did not happen on that day, rather it happened over time. There was a point when I was beyond the age of accountability that I knew in my heart that Jesus is the son of God and became a believer. Many people can look back with clarity to the hour they first believed. For me, my hour was over a period of time when all doubt was removed and I knew in my heart that Jesus was real. To this very day if I am asked why I believe, my answer is simple. When the lights are out, and it is just you and your maker in the room, I can say with all certainty that I know there is a God and I know him personally. I know when I pray, I have just walked boldly into the throne room of all throne rooms and just got face to face with God almighty. He always puts his other files away and turns to me and with the eye of a savior and listens to my every word. His eyes know it all and has seen it all. I mean all of it. He knows every good and every not so good part of my life and yet he still loves me. If you want to know a love and an acceptance that will never change, there it is. It is only found in God.

If this is not what you experience, I trust you will find the hour in your own life when you first become a believer. KT