Have you heard?

OUR strength is often what we call willpower or the desire to act one way when the other is the choice we make most often. The truth be told, our ability or talent is way too over-estimated, and our strength is way too small. Proverbs 24:10 reminds us, "If you fail under pressure, your strength is too small."

Have you never heard? Have you never understood? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of all the earth. He never grows weak or weary. No one can measure the depths of his understanding. He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless. Even youths will become weak and tired, and young men will fall in exhaustion. But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint. (Isaiah 40:28-31)

God's strength is for the weary and the weak. Not sure if I should admit this or not, but that is me! It is not for those who have everything perfect or under control in their lives. It is for those who aren't perfect, who know they have issues, and desire to have something be different in the choices they make. The promise is for power when we are weak, strength when we are powerless, and even new strength when we exhaust all the strength we seem to have had.

Weakness isn't an admission of failure, like some may think, but rather an acknowledgement of awareness of just how much we need God's help in our lives. We are acknowledging that without God's help, things aren't going to go very well! When pressure mounts and life events seem to bring a load of something crashing down on us, we can either muddle through the best we can, or we can stop and lean into God for his power. 

We aren't admitting we are inept, or even that we are not willing to make an attempt. We are admitting that we lack the knowledge God possesses and that without his help, we will likely fall short of what we could do when we are backed with his potential and power. Even youths become weak and tired. That statement pretty well wraps it up for us. It isn't about natural ability or talent - it is about the depth of our trust and the placement of that trust. It could be we trust way too much in our own ability/talent and not quite enough in God's power and strength. Just sayin!

Meager Meal or Leftovers Galore?

Do you think God sometimes asks us stuff to see how we will answer? He already knows our response, but I believe he puts it out there because there is something to be learned by us hearing our response. Five loaves and a few fish - will that feed a crowd of over 5,000 men? Not if we only see the loaves and fish for what they are - we need to see them through God's eyes. We see the limits in our answers, but God sees the immense possibilities when we place the 'answers' into his hands. 

Jesus soon saw a huge crowd of people coming to look for him. Turning to Philip, he asked, “Where can we buy bread to feed all these people?” He was testing Philip, for he already knew what he was going to do. Philip replied, “Even if we worked for months, we wouldn’t have enough money to feed them!” Then Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up. “There’s a young boy here with five barley loaves and two fish. But what good is that with this huge crowd?” “Tell everyone to sit down,” Jesus said. So they all sat down on the grassy slopes. (The men alone numbered about 5,000.) Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks to God, and distributed them to the people. Afterward he did the same with the fish. And they all ate as much as they wanted. (John 6:5-11)

Philip saw the crowd in comparison to what was at THEIR disposal - Jesus saw the offered food in comparison to what was at HIS disposal! We 'know' God will do something, even when the offering is meager in our eyes, but we just don't know 'how' he will do it, so we hesitate a bit. It isn't that we don't believe he can 'multiply' the little we offer, it is that we see the crowd before we see the potential in his words and his touch!

If the crowd represents the overwhelming task that is right in front of us, then the offered loaves and fish represents our abilities and talents. Even the smallest of abilities in his hands can be multiplied beyond what we could ever imagine. When was all said and done that day, twelve entire baskets of food remained. When we put what we have into his hands, he will ALWAYS do more with it than we imagined, but there will be an 'overflow' blessing in everything he touches!

Did it ever stop to occur to you that God desires to increase your faith at the same time as he is manifesting his power? We might think our faith has to be huge in order to see his power on display in our lives, but that meager meal was definitely not 'huge' in comparison to the crowd's hunger. If we want to see God do 'huge' things in and through us, it begins with offering him the very things we have at our disposal and then seeing how he will use them for his glory. Just sayin!

Freedom Robbers

I know I distressed you greatly with my letter. Although I felt awful at the time, I don’t feel at all bad now that I see how it turned out. The letter upset you, but only for a while. Now I’m glad—not that you were upset, but that you were jarred into turning things around. You let the distress bring you to God, not drive you from him. The result was all gain, no loss. Distress that drives us to God does that. It turns us around. It gets us back in the way of salvation. We never regret that kind of pain. But those who let distress drive them away from God are full of regrets, end up on a deathbed of regrets. (2 Corinthians 7:8-10)

Any great pain or sorrow that weighs us down and almost keeps us from moving is not meant to keep us down, it is meant to drive us to God. Elements of physical suffering, or some mental anguish might have us under its control right now. Some call this "trouble", while others use a more sophisticated term like "affliction" or "tribulation". It is simply junk we don't want to have to deal with, but somehow it always manages to find us. A plane billowing black smoke, pilot frantically attempting to send out a distress call indicating his location as he plummets to the earth - trouble, affliction, tribulation. The call is something of a plea for someone to notice he is "going down" in hopes he might be rescued at some point if he survives the horrific event. I think there are times we view distress almost in a similar way - as if we were "going down" - so we cry out, hoping someone, anyone will notice us and come to our rescue. Distress might even be "self-inflicted" - like when we make a really bad decision and then feel ourselves plummeting out of control, heading toward a crash. Any unseen force in their lives might cause us distress - like when you just feel pressure but cannot put your finger on where it is coming from, when it started, or how to make it end. The "other person" caused distress could be the entire source of the pressure or affliction we might be enduring. Either way, it appears distress is common among men and women alike, so isn't it about time we learn how to deal with it?

The opposite of distress is peace, assurance, and freedom. We have to learn what steals away our peace, brings us to the place of doubt, and captures us in its clutches so tightly. While trying to identify the cause of distress, we just have to look at these three things - peace disturbers, assurance robbers, and captors of our freedom. Peace is more than just the absence of disturbance! Some of us need a little disturbance once in a while to actually get us moving in the right direction once again. Think of the last time you lazily drifted into the lane next to you on the freeway and heard just a little toot of a horn from a passing motorist in the opposite lane. What did that horn toot provide? It disturbed your peace just enough to put you back on course in your lane again. Not all disturbance is a bad thing. Even the calmest, stillest running brook is moving! If it wasn't, it would be pond-like and scummy. The movement keeps it fresh. Peace really is a state of no longer being at a place of "strife" in your life. In other words, you deal with the antagonists to your peace! Doing this means we have to stop long enough to actually figure out what is impacting our peace - even if it is something we might be doing to ourselves! Remember - it doesn't mean we stop moving - we still need to move, but just in the right "lane"!

Assurance is just a fancy word for confidence or certainty. When the stock market begins to go haywire, housing prices plummet, people make runs on banks and stash hard earned monies into their secret hiding places in their homes just in case the banks are going to go "belly up", and the like. Why? Confidence in the system we depend upon is broken. Those who respond in panic are actually showing where it is they have placed their confidence! When confidence is misplaced, it is easy for it to be "robbed away" from us in what appears to be any kind of "distressing" or "conflicting" circumstance, isn't it? When we understand the strength of our life's foundation is Christ, we stand assured. When we haven't allowed this foundation to be built into our lives as strongly as it should be, we sometimes find ourselves a little less certain when the storms come. Captors of our freedom requires someone or something to be our captor. For a captor to actually do his job, he has to be able to over-power or out-think the one he seeks to take into captivity. It doesn't mean he has the most muscles, or the highest IQ. It means he knows how to use what it is he has at his disposal. They use their abilities to their advantage. They outsmart us by affecting our peace or mucking with our assurance. They over-power us by making us think OUR abilities are insufficient to stand up to THEIRS. Truth is - they are probably right! It isn't OUR abilities they should be faced with - it is CHRIST'S abilities WITHIN US they should have to deal with! If they come face-to-face with those abilities, they don't stand a chance of affecting our freedom in Christ!

Not sure what is bringing you a little distress today but remember what our passage declares: Distress which drives us TO God turns us around. It re-establishes our sense of peace, gives us the certainty we are on solid footing, and puts forward the power of Christ, not the mildness of our own abilities. Just sayin!

Putt-Putt or Vrrrmmmm-Vrrrrmmmm?

Be assured that from the first day we heard of you, we haven’t stopped praying for you, asking God to give you wise minds and spirits attuned to his will, and so acquire a thorough understanding of the ways in which God works. We pray that you’ll live well for the Master, making him proud of you as you work hard in his orchard. As you learn more and more how God works, you will learn how to do your work. We pray that you’ll have the strength to stick it out over the long haul—not the grim strength of gritting your teeth but the glory-strength God gives. It is strength that endures the unendurable and spills over into joy, thanking the Father who makes us strong enough to take part in everything bright and beautiful that he has for us. (Colossians 1:9)

Be honest here - do you ever feel like the 'power' you are operating under is really not 'power', but more like a 'putt-putt' kind of existence? If you are there, don't fret because we all find ourselves there from time to time. The truth of the matter is that we sometimes launch off in our own 'might' or 'power', not fully understanding the 'umph' behind our actions is really not God's, but our own. It takes a bit to understand how God works through us, but when we discover his power moving through us, something 'clicks' and we begin to appreciate the difference between our 'putt-putt' movements and his mighty power! As this happens, we don't ever want to operate under our own pathetic power any longer!

We all need someone to be praying these words on our behalf, don't we? We all need someone to be praying for our minds to be un-muddled and free of 'cluttering confusion'. We all need our spirits in tune with the Spirit of God moving within us. We all need to learn to work 'smarter', not 'harder'. To operate within our own power is to worker harder - to allow the Spirit of God to 'innervate' our actions is to work 'smarter'. We learn to work 'smarter' as we learn to embrace the prompting of the Holy Spirit within us. I have launched off in so many different directions in my life, only to find at the end of it all I am so tired and frustrated by the results of all that work. Why? I was doing everything under my own power.

How do we learn to 'exchange' our putt-putt power for the dynamo of God's power within us? I think it comes as we begin to learn more and more of how God works. How do we learn this? By listening, paying attention, seeing positive examples of other believers, and getting to know what his Word tells us about how he acts, when he acts, and where he acts. We stop 'putting around' when we begin to understand God's actions aren't always quick - some are methodical, gradual, and taken over time. Others are quick because the action is needed now. It takes time to get to know these things about God, but trust me on this one - getting familiar with how and when and where God moves is the beginning of a new level of 'power' within your life. You will never again settle for the 'putt-putt' power of your own doing! Just sayin!

I only have a little ability

The Apostle Paul seemed like quite a well-educated, very capable guy when you looked at him from the outside - on the surface, we can appear just about anyway we like, but it is what is at the center of a man that really makes the man.  Paul took honest moments like this in the letter to the church at Ephesus to explain his own personal struggle with feeling "ill-prepared" for what God had called him to do.  He tells us what he recognizes as his calling on his life - to help people understand and respond to the message of salvation - something he felt very ill-prepared to do, but which he knew with a certainty was what he was to go about doing.  It was this message that he spent the remainder of his years attempting to get out to as many people as possible, establishing them in the truth that God had made a way for all people to have access to the atoning sacrifice of his dear Son, Jesus. Sometimes the thing we feel the least equipped to do is the very thing we should go about doing!

This is my life work: helping people understand and respond to this Message. It came as a sheer gift to me, a real surprise, God handling all the details. When it came to presenting the Message to people who had no background in God's way, I was the least qualified of any of the available Christians. God saw to it that I was equipped, but you can be sure that it had nothing to do with my natural abilities.  (Ephesians 3:7-8 MSG)

Paul's calling was illustrated in scripture as what I'd label "pretty doggone dramatic".  He was encountered along the Damascus road by a light so bright that he falls to the ground, stunned beyond words.  He had been going about the work of killing off and torturing men and women who professed belief in Jesus - because it was contrary to what he had learned from his teachers of the Law.  Then he was encountered by the very light he was attempting to extinguish - sometimes this is just the way it is with God's plan - it encounters us in exactly the opposite way we are pursuing.  The voice of God actually spoke to him from within the light - I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting.  I'd probably think this was pretty clear proof that the one I thought was some guy just calling himself the Son of God was perhaps who he said he was - especially since he had been killed on the cross some time earlier!  He is told to go off into Damascus, where he had the opportunity to meet with a disciple named Ananias, while all the while he was left blinded by the brightness of the light he had been exposed to on the road that day.  He had traveling companions that day who saw the same light, but they did not hear the voice.  They were left with their sight unimpaired, while Paul lost his for a period of time.  God is truly amazing in how he works just what he needs to work in order to get at the heart of one who needs to hear his voice!

When Paul says that this gift came to him as a "sheer surprise", he is not kidding!  There was absolutely nothing within him that even wanted to explore the possibility that Jesus was the true Messiah.  He was content to go along in his condition of heart that had him out there persecuting and killing Christians.  But God had a different plan - an encounter of the "spiritual kind" because of which he'd never be the same again.  Our conversion to Christ may not have been as dramatic, as memorable, or come complete with audible voice from within a bright light - but our conversion was just as real, just as transforming, and just as much of a surprise as was Paul's.  When we least expected God to reach down into our lives with his grace and his forgiveness, he did.  Just that simple!  Along with that grace came his provision.  A provision for all we'd need to both walk out our own salvation day by day in the grace he provides, but also the provision to share the gospel message, making it plain to those who need to hear it just as badly as we needed it.

You may say that you are not called to be a "Paul" to the world, but that is okay because that is not your purpose in life.  You are called to be faithful to bring the message of hope to those you encounter in your walk of life - even though you aren't called to 'father new churches'. Paul says he was not equipped, although he was very well educated in 'spiritual things'. It was God that did the true equipping of Paul - the same God that equips us with all we need to be messengers of his grace to a lost world.  The very next time you feel "ill-equipped" for the work you are called to do - don't sweat it, but look up.  God is already at work equipping you in just the way he plans to use you!  We tend to focus on the natural abilities - as did Paul - but God focuses on the willingness of heart that allows him to pour in all that we need (words, abilities, talents).  In his hands, a yielded messenger is more valuable than gold. Don't focus on what you don't have - focus on what God can and will provide when your heart is yielded to his equipping. Don't remind God you don't have this or that ability - but simply act upon the ability you have and see how amazingly awesome that little ability can be when motivated by the hand of God! Just sayin!

Able

Do you know the purpose of the word "but" in your sentence? Whenever you insert "but" into the sentence, you are saying the prior stuff is "negated" by the next stuff you are about to say.  For example, when you say, "The caramel truffle was delightful, but I think it went right to my hips," you are saying although it tasted delightful and there was that moment of pure ecstasy when you indulged, you will regret having to workout a little longer on the treadmill tomorrow! "But" makes null and void what has just been said, or puts some type of condition on it.  Another example, "You were supposed to do that yesterday, but I understand you had an emergency..."  In this example, the person is willing to overlook the failure to do whatever it was that should have been complete by now, all because there was the "condition" of an emergency arising in your life.  So, the "but" is significant to set up what is going to come next, isn't it?

But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that Day what has been entrusted to me. (2 Timothy 1:12 ESV)

Our writer (Paul) has just told Timothy there has been a whole lot of problems in his life, including being put into prison for preaching the gospel of salvation.  His efforts to be a witness to the testimony of Christ's birth, death, and resurrection have landed him in some pretty bad places and his life is not getting much better.  But...  He is about to negate what others may see as negative and unrewarding circumstances in his life.  All of this present "sorrow" is about to be made inexplicably "okay" because of the "but".  It isn't that the circumstances are easy to endure, or even that there is hope they are about to turn around for him so he might enjoy release from his prison cell.  It isn't that he knows someone is about to post bail, or that his sentence will be reduced.  He is there because his message has offended the religious leaders of the day and they feel the only way to "silence" the message is to lock him up for speaking forth the truth.  With one tiny word he turns the outline of his present circumstances in a totally different direction - but...  

In spite of their repeated attempts to bring me shame and cause me to question what I am doing ...

In spite of their accusations my work is not "valid" or based on "truth" ...

In spite of their attempts to break me by placing me in darker places than I have ever known before...

I am not ashamed!  I am convinced even more today than I was yesterday - the message is real, trustworthy, and life-altering!

I am convinced that even when my ability wanes, ebbing and flowing like the tides of the ocean, HE is ABLE...

All this is introduced as the condition upon which Paul hopes and knows his deliverance is possible!  God is ABLE.  What does "able" mean to you?  If we are to stand "convinced" of his "ability", we have to answer that question for ourselves. We might judge God's ability based upon the circumstances we find ourselves in at the moment.  For example, we see God's ability as kind of "conditional" whenever  we do things such as celebrating with great joy his ability to provide for our needs, but then when leaner times come we might not even think to celebrate his ability to hold us up during those times.  

Able might mean "adequate" to some of us.  I don't know about you, but I don't want an "adequate" God standing behind me - I want an "outstanding", "awesome", "all-powerful", "all-knowing", "all-loving" God standing in my corner!  Able might mean "adept" to some of us.  I know God is an "expert" in working things out, even when I get them a little messed up in my life, but he is so much more than "skilled" at setting things straight - he is also the one who can help me live in such a way that things I've done or said don't need a lot of "clean up" in the end!  Able might mean "ready" to some of us.  It might be we think God just stands by "just in case" - he is "ready" (on the spot when we need him).  God certainly wants to be more than a "just in case" God for us.

When Paul says God is "able", he is saying he is "convinced" in the ability of God to "guard" the truth of the message he has been proclaiming.  In essence, he is assuring Timothy, and all the other readers of this letter down through the ages of the reliability of placing our trust in God above all other things, people, or actions.  He is "able" - equipped in every way to handle our life's circumstances; powerful in ways we are not; fitted to perfectly set in order what seems to be in utter chaos around us.  How we view God's ability in our lives may just determine how we face the circumstances we find ourselves in at the moment.  I'd like to think we KNOW with a certainty that God's ability in our lives is what negates all the "power" any circumstance has over us!  Just sayin!

Is it morning yet?

I remember doing guard duty while in basic training and I almost felt like I had stretched my body to the limits.  If I thought guarding those green vehicles was all that significant, my attitude didn't manifest that!  I made my rounds - walking back and forth, carrying the M-16 over my shoulder, and freezing my fingers to the bone.  If someone had come to steal one of them, I would have given it to them by the end of the night!  I was so tired, to the point of exhaustion, that rational thought had escaped me.  When I finally got to go to bed, do you think I could sleep?  Nope!  I was so "over-tired" and my body just had a hard time shutting off.  After the experience was all over, I recognized something of deeper significance, though.  While I may not have seen the value in what I was being asked to do in guarding those vehicles from would-be intruders and rascally thieves, the base commander had a purpose in my being on-guard that night.  These were his vehicles and this was actually his watch - I was just appointed to represent him while on that watch.  

I am waiting for the Lord to help me. My soul waits for him. I trust what he says. I am waiting for my Lord, like a guard waiting and waiting for the morning to come. (Psalm 130:5-6 ERV)

Most of the activity in this life that we engage in is simply because we are placed "on-guard" by the one who is the commander of it all.  The back and forth, rhythmic movement we engage in as we go through the "routine" of whatever it is we are called to do may seem a little fruitless to us, but in the end, it serves a greater purpose to the one who has appointed us to that task. The task isn't always the aim - the lessons learned in the task may actually be what we are supposed to gain from the experience!

Somehow, while out there walking that huge perimeter around that motor-pool, I realized something of deeper significance in my life.  First and foremost, I serve someone greater than me.  At that moment, it was the base commander. In real life today, it is the Commander of the Armies of the Lord - Jesus himself. I don't do what I do for me alone, it is because I stand in service to him. Second, the work may not seem like it is significant, but it has a purpose in part of his bigger plan for my life. 

Probably one of the most "hidden" lessons in that experience is the one I learned about ability versus availability.  That night, I was available, but my ability was pretty much shot by 1 a.m.!  In fact, I was a walking zombie after that hour - having pretty much used up whatever gung-ho stamina I could muster to be on duty.  The rest of the night, until 7 a.m. was a totally different matter.  I no longer walked that perimeter in my ability, but in the strength which came from deeper within - at the soul level.  I was doing it not because I "could" - for my ability had long been exhausted - but because I was making myself available to do it.

Much of what we accomplish in this life isn't because we are "able" to do it - but because we are available to do it.  In making oneself available, we open ourselves up to the possibilities far outside what we think or imagine we are "able" to do.  I didn't think I'd ever pull an "all-nighter" - because I had never been that kind of night-owl.  I never thought I'd be able to stand on my feet twelve hours without sitting down - because I had never been given that responsibility before.  Ability is reliant upon what we can muster from within. Availability is all about what we give and then reliance upon the one who gives us a little more to make it the extra distance.

Sure, I was anxious for the night to be over.  My feet cried out for some relief as those combat boots constricted around tired and achy bone and flesh.  My back yearned for just a little slouch to take the pressure off the rigidity of the posture I maintained in my marching back and forth.  My eyes burned from the lack of restful repose.  I wasn't much different than David as I was that guard waiting and waiting for morning to come.  When I saw that first light of dawn, although there were still almost two hours until the relief of the day shift guard, I knew there was hope of relief. 

We may not realize full relief when we see the first light of dawn in the midst of whatever it is God has called us to be available to engage in, but we can rest in the assurance that with the dawn comes the promise of a new light on the things which seemed kind of hard for us to discern in the night watch.  The night watch isn't just about aimless walking - it is about discovering the benefits of being available wherever and whenever we are needed.  God can use one who is available and he will stretch us to the end of our abilities in those times - but rest assured in this - the dawn brings new insight, hope, and a deeper trust than we ever would have had enjoying the slumber of our bunk!  Just sayin!

A life all planned out

Got any plans for your day?  As you read this blog today, I am on vacation, enjoying another week of respite from the daily grind and constant demands of the "busy-ness" of life.  One nice thing about vacation - the lack of plans! We find ourselves very spontaneous, making plans only if it involves being at an established location at a certain time (such as to catch a bus for a tour). Other than that, we kind of just like to take it one day at a time!  Not a bad way to live, but how many of us can actually live like this?  Unless we are retired, it is not likely!  I love the Proverbs because they are kind of like "mini truths" just rolled up for our enjoyment.  You don't have to read an entire story, but get the nougat of truth which you can sink your teeth into.  Then when you read on a little more, the other nougats add to the first.  Here's the starting point for our study today:

We plan the way we want to live, but only God makes us able to live it.   (Proverbs 16:9)

We plan the way we WANT to live - but only God makes us ABLE to live it. Plans and ability are two separate things, are they not?  We make a lot of plans which we never seem able to fulfill, right?  They just don't come together as they should, or never really get finished because other demands seem to creep up which require our attention.  Let's be honest - we all have plans we sometimes have no ability to fulfill - we just hope we might make some progress toward them sometime down the road.  If we read our passage correctly, it is God's business to give us the ability to live out the plans, but I think he scrutinizes the plans we make to see that they line up with his "master plan" for our lives.

When God lays out our path and we determine to walk within that pathway, we are led away from evil and toward the place of safety in our lives.  The road of right living bypasses evil; watch your step and save your life. (vs. 17 MSG)  I cannot help but examine some of the paths I have taken in my life because I wanted to go down those roads.  As I look back, there are some pretty deep pot-holes, rocky courses, and the like which I had to navigate through in order to come out on the other side.  There are even some I actually abandoned instead of seeing them through to the end.  Why?  They weren't the right paths!  They weren't honoring God and they weren't fulfilling me.  So, in the end, I wasted a lot of time discovering this, but somehow when I did, God was right there ready to get me back on course again.  What he was doing in the time it took me to figure out I was pursuing a wrong course was getting me good and ready to pursue the right one!  So, not even a wrong course is wasted in the hands of God.

Failure is certain when pride becomes our mode of operation in life.  First pride, then the crash—the bigger the ego, the harder the fall. (vs. 18 MSG)  Something proud people don't do is listen to instruction.  In fact, it is their pride which actually closes off their "hearing"!  According to our writer, to prosper, we need to listen to instruction and trust in God.  "Prosper" is a word of action.  It means to thrive.  If you have ever experienced being in a desolate, dry place in your life, you probably have known the opposite of prospering - nothing thrives in dryness but pretty prickly stuff like cacti and tumbleweed!  Does it surprise you that the dry places seem a little barren?  It shouldn't because any time we choose our own way over God's, we choose the rocky and prickly path! 

A wise man is known for their understanding.  It pays to take life seriously; things work out when you trust in God.  A wise person gets known for insight; gracious words add to one’s reputation.  (vs. 20-21 MSG)  The words of the wise are persuasive, are they not.  The words of the fool might be able to dupe us into believing them, but the words of the wise carry an authority unlike any other.  We don't gain wisdom in isolation.  Wisdom is learned while being "on the journey".  Wisdom is then an action word, as well. Learning is a lifestyle - not a pursuit.  Learning is made up of disciplined steps.  A foolish man will take steps without much thinking, but it is those steps which determine his destiny.  Disciplined steps are discretionary steps. There is some matter of choice made by the one taking the steps, but these choices are based on what has become evident as prudent or sensible. Prudent or sensible steps become evident because you get to know the one who gives good judgment - God himself.

Although there are many reasons for planning, not is more motivating that some element of hunger.  Appetite is an incentive to work; hunger makes you work all the harder.  (vs. 26 MSG)  There is much to be said about having the right "hunger".  In fact, the desires of our heart are often the determining factor in our pursuit of one path over another.  "Appetite" is really a drive to satisfy a need - it could be physical, spiritual, or emotional.  What we determine to be our "needs" is important to consider in light of how those "needs" will be met as we pursue the path of getting met.  For example, we may see a "need" for a mate - someone to share our future with.  If we see our mate as someone who will fulfill us, we likely will pursue the wrong choice for a mate!  If we see a mate as someone who may actually make us more like Jesus, we might just pursue a different man or woman!  Appetite for spiritual graces draws us closer to Jesus and makes us pursue him harder.  We would do well to consider our appetites when we are planning our course.  

So, just some nougats of truth from the Proverbs today.  Hope it fills you with some seed thoughts to ponder as you consider your course today.  Plan on, but don't forget who makes you able to fulfill the plans!  Just sayin!