God cares about your passions and preferences, and he loves that you’ re a planner. He made you that way. But let’ s not make the all-too-common mistake of assuming God’ s plans are a buffet, where you can take what you want and leave what you don’ t. If it were, then they wouldn’ t be God’ s plans; they’ d be yours.
We often want things that God doesn’ t intend for our lives, just like the Israelites did. Many of the things I want today will not lead to the plans God has for me tomorrow, even though sometimes it really feels like they will.
I never went to medical school. And instead of homes in Vail and Laguna, I owned a twobedroom condo in Littleton, Colorado.( The beach house is still a dream. I’ m just playing the long game.)
My professional plans quickly changed from orthopedic surgeon to pastor just a few months after I graduated from college. God then downloaded a new dream into my heart to start a church with my brother Ryan, and my best friend, Ethan, and the more we dreamed, the more we started filling in every detail.
" God ruined my plans, and it was the greatest thing that ever happened to me."
This isn’ t about bringing God into our dreams; it’ s about surrendering to his. Seeking the Planner, not the plans. And that takes two things:
One, the faith to believe God has good things in store for your life. And two, the trust to open your hands, even if it means God might ruin your plans.
Ten Years Later...
A decade after my picture-perfect walk home from finals, almost everything about my plans had changed.
Slowly but surely, God changed all the details, including our dream city on the beach, San Diego, and we ended up church planting in Austin, Texas, three hundred miles from the nearest ocean.
Scripture tells us there’ s power in our testimonies because our stories are the living and breathing evidence that God is working. And this is my testimony: God ruined my plans, and it was the greatest thing that ever happened to me.
I remember driving with my pregnant wife and our anxious dog from Denver to Austin, towing a U-Haul packed with everything we owned. When we passed the Welcome to Texas sign, I said a big, little prayer:“ God, please let this crazy dream work.”
62