“NOW TO HIM WHO IS ABLE TO ESTABLISH YOU IN ACCORDANCE WITH MY GOSPEL, THE MESSAGE I PROCLAIM ABOUT JESUS CHRIST.” ROMANS 16:25_

I had 3 places I needed to be yesterday, but because they were related
by order and location, I had to make a plan. I needed to go to A to get
something for B. C was closer to B so it easily squeezed into 3rd place.
When I got to A… what I went to GET for B was not there. Making
arrangements, B agreed to proceed without having A… WITH a promise of
my delivery of A’s thing later.

When I got to C, the guy said he could do what I needed, but only if I
got to location D later. Later, when I got to D, C man wasn’t there and
asked, by phone, if I could return to the original location of C
today… EARLY! I hadn’t planned on that!

Ever have one of those days? If I am honest, MOST of life goes like
that. There’s an old saying that goes, “if you want to make God laugh,
tell Him your plans!” He has a whole comedy channel named just for me!
Driving on the road is a lesson of planned futility… as traffic seems
to move AGAINST my progress. Life can be frustrating indeed.

I have had a very good friend for 40 years. Because he lives out of
state and I had moved from there, we didn’t talk much. But when we did,
we always seemed to pick up where we had left off. Relationship was
always the same. We share life and stories together… but separately…
if you know what I mean.

Yesterday my friend didn’t have anywhere to go. He actually couldn’t.
Lying in bed under hospice care, with no place to go and no knowledge of
what was going on around him, he finally DID take a trip. From A to
Z…in a nanosecond! He went from this world… straight into the arms
of Jesus! And while it hadn’t been HIS plan to go so soon, his ultimate
trip HAD been established by our mutual Savior long ago.

When a friend or loved one dies, it pretty much becomes a major stifle
of plans. Life kind of stops and reflection takes over. What we call
death is a shock. To God the word simply means separation. My friend
separated from this old body and life… and took up NEW residence with
a NEW body in a NEW place… WITH Jesus Christ! Z wasn’t the immediate
plan… but it WAS the ULTIMATE! And it was God’s established plan before
he even arrived here at A!

It will be wonderful to see him again!