BBD 06.04.14 The Best Laid Plans (New)

#1 · June 4, 2014, 2:29 pm

Quote from Forum Archives on June 4, 2014, 2:29 pm
Posted by: theburningbushdevotional <theburningbushdevotional@...>

If for
some reason you do not receive your email version of the devotional please
check the Burning Bush website at www.theburningbush.net for the “Devotional of the Day” and read the devotional there.

The Burning
Bush Devotional

06.04.14

The
Best Laid Plans

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and
such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; whereas you
do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a
vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought
to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.” - James 4:13-15
NKJV.

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord,
thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. - Jeremiah
29:11 NKJV.

By now
you have probably seen the video of the wedding party on the collapsing dock.
It was on virtually every news program yesterday. The soaking of most of the 29
members of the wedding group occurred in Crosslake, Minnesota. Prior to the
wedding ceremony, the photographer took several staged photos and videos. One
of them was on an older dock, which could not take the combined weight of all
29 people. But the show must go on, and an hour later the mostly dry group did
participate in the actual ceremony. It was reported that after the drenching
the bride was laughing and smiling and was asking the videographer if she had
gotten the dock collapse on video. Megan Fritze, the videographer, said that “An hour later,
you couldn’t even tell that anyone had gotten wet.” And about the
bride’s attitude Megan said “This is a really cool bride. The bride was absolutely
stunning, in and out of the water.” (ABC;
NBC; FoxNews and other news venues 06.03.14)

From my personal observations, few weddings are perfect. Many
glitches occur around the wedding rings. In one wedding I officiated, the rings
were forgotten, but we simply acted as though we had the rings. In another
wedding I read about, that took place in the 1940s in an unfinished church,
there was a problem with the rings too. The rings were somehow dropped by the
pastor, and they fell through a gap in the unfinished floorboards. After the
ceremony, they searched in the dirt of the unfinished basement until the rings
were found.

It is not just wedding plans that end up being changed or going
awry. In the Chinese city of Zhengzhou, the city officials wanted something
nice for their city. They planned, and attempted to create an artificial lake
nearby to be filled by a known underground water source. However, the water
dried up, and the instead of a lake there is a large sand pile covering an area
the size of four football fields. (People.com
05.19.14)

You can
probably think of a few of your own plans that have been changed or gone awry,
I know I can. From personal experience, I know what it is like for a profitable
business to suddenly be lost due to changing market and political conditions.
Many others lost their businesses too. I know what it is like to have a job
thinking it will last for many years and to suddenly be told that the business
can no longer afford to have me as an employee. But those things are not as
painful as the emotional turmoil of shattered marriages ending in divorce, or
the tragedies that many have faced.

As God
points out through James, we don’t know what is going to happen tomorrow, much
less farther down the road of time. Plans do change, and they do go awry
through no fault of our own simply because life is like that. How we choose to
deal with those situations is something we do have some control over. An
excellent example is given to us by the bride, who with her wedding party, were
all soaked when the dock they were posing on collapsed. Her response was one of
smiling, laughing and wanting to know if the videographer had gotten the video
of the dock collapse. As James says our lives are like a “vapor,” but we don’t
have to let a change in plans blow us away. Remember if you know Jesus as your
Savior you are not alone. Psalm 70:4 tells us
what to do when things change unexpectedly: “Let God be
magnified!” Make much out of God, and little out of what has happened.

Copyright © 2014. Ed Wrather. The
Burning Bush website has been online since January 31, 1998. On June 8, 1998
the email version of the Burning Bush Devotional was first sent. Ed Wrather
began writing devotionals in the early 1990s. The distribution of these first
devotionals was primarily through the Burning Bush Newsletter sent to prison
facilities throughout the United States and Canada.

Visit the
Burning Bush websites:

www.theburningbush.net

www.theburningbush.org

The .org Burning
Bush website

is being updated.

The Burning Bush websites have
received visits from more than 170 countries. Celebrating 15 years online since
January 31, 1998. Since June 8, 1998 the Burning Bush Devotional has been
spreading the truth of God's Word to more than 14,000 subscribers across the
world.

You can leave comments/feedback
about the devotionals at www.theburningbush.net.

There is a translation tool on
theburningbush.net website in the top left hand corner of all of the pages.

Prayer Warriors Wanted! Please join the
Burning Bush Prayer Group. The group began in 1998. Send prayer requests and
receive prayer requests. To join send an
email to: bbpg-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Ed Wrather has retired from
pastoring full-time and has more time to pursue other ministry opportunities.
You can make contact at edwrather@yahoo.com or theburningbushdevotional@gmail.com View LinkedIn profile with
endorsements at http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=92988105

Prayer Requests: Please pray for
the return of the Nigerian school girls. Many prayer needs are posted at the
Burning Bush website on the Prayer Request page. You can also post your prayer
requests there (Of course, I am always in need of prayer - please pray for
me.).

If you enjoy the devotional
please recommend it to your friends. They may subscribe by sending a blank
email to burningbushdevo-join@welovegod.org

There is a complete devotional
archive at the old Burning Bush website. Here is the URL: http://www.theburningbush.org/DevotionalArchive.html.

You can unsubscribe to the
burningbushdevo devotional group by sending a blank email to burningbushdevo-leave@welovegod.org
and then respond to the confirmation email.

You may subscribe to the html
text group (Because of time constraints the devotional is only being sent now
in html format) by sending a blank email to burningbushhtml-join@welovegod.org
and you may unsubscribe by sending a blank email to
burningbushhtml-leave@welovegod.org and then respond to the confirmation email.
If the link does not work, copy and paste the link.

--

To unsubscribe, send ANY message to: burningbushdevo-leave@welovegod.org

Posted by: theburningbushdevotional <theburningbushdevotional@...>

If for
some reason you do not receive your email version of the devotional please
check the Burning Bush website at http://www.theburningbush.net for the “Devotional of the Day” and read the devotional there.

The Burning
Bush Devotional

06.04.14

The
Best Laid Plans

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and
such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; whereas you
do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a
vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought
to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.” - James 4:13-15
NKJV.

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord,
thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. - Jeremiah
29:11 NKJV.

By now
you have probably seen the video of the wedding party on the collapsing dock.
It was on virtually every news program yesterday. The soaking of most of the 29
members of the wedding group occurred in Crosslake, Minnesota. Prior to the
wedding ceremony, the photographer took several staged photos and videos. One
of them was on an older dock, which could not take the combined weight of all
29 people. But the show must go on, and an hour later the mostly dry group did
participate in the actual ceremony. It was reported that after the drenching
the bride was laughing and smiling and was asking the videographer if she had
gotten the dock collapse on video. Megan Fritze, the videographer, said that “An hour later,
you couldn’t even tell that anyone had gotten wet.” And about the
bride’s attitude Megan said “This is a really cool bride. The bride was absolutely
stunning, in and out of the water.” (ABC;
NBC; FoxNews and other news venues 06.03.14)

From my personal observations, few weddings are perfect. Many
glitches occur around the wedding rings. In one wedding I officiated, the rings
were forgotten, but we simply acted as though we had the rings. In another
wedding I read about, that took place in the 1940s in an unfinished church,
there was a problem with the rings too. The rings were somehow dropped by the
pastor, and they fell through a gap in the unfinished floorboards. After the
ceremony, they searched in the dirt of the unfinished basement until the rings
were found.

It is not just wedding plans that end up being changed or going
awry. In the Chinese city of Zhengzhou, the city officials wanted something
nice for their city. They planned, and attempted to create an artificial lake
nearby to be filled by a known underground water source. However, the water
dried up, and the instead of a lake there is a large sand pile covering an area
the size of four football fields. (People.com
05.19.14)

You can
probably think of a few of your own plans that have been changed or gone awry,
I know I can. From personal experience, I know what it is like for a profitable
business to suddenly be lost due to changing market and political conditions.
Many others lost their businesses too. I know what it is like to have a job
thinking it will last for many years and to suddenly be told that the business
can no longer afford to have me as an employee. But those things are not as
painful as the emotional turmoil of shattered marriages ending in divorce, or
the tragedies that many have faced.

As God
points out through James, we don’t know what is going to happen tomorrow, much
less farther down the road of time. Plans do change, and they do go awry
through no fault of our own simply because life is like that. How we choose to
deal with those situations is something we do have some control over. An
excellent example is given to us by the bride, who with her wedding party, were
all soaked when the dock they were posing on collapsed. Her response was one of
smiling, laughing and wanting to know if the videographer had gotten the video
of the dock collapse. As James says our lives are like a “vapor,” but we don’t
have to let a change in plans blow us away. Remember if you know Jesus as your
Savior you are not alone. Psalm 70:4 tells us
what to do when things change unexpectedly: “Let God be
magnified!” Make much out of God, and little out of what has happened.

Copyright © 2014. Ed Wrather. The
Burning Bush website has been online since January 31, 1998. On June 8, 1998
the email version of the Burning Bush Devotional was first sent. Ed Wrather
began writing devotionals in the early 1990s. The distribution of these first
devotionals was primarily through the Burning Bush Newsletter sent to prison
facilities throughout the United States and Canada.

Visit the
Burning Bush websites:

http://www.theburningbush.net

http://www.theburningbush.org

The .org Burning
Bush website

is being updated.

The Burning Bush websites have
received visits from more than 170 countries. Celebrating 15 years online since
January 31, 1998. Since June 8, 1998 the Burning Bush Devotional has been
spreading the truth of God's Word to more than 14,000 subscribers across the
world.

You can leave comments/feedback
about the devotionals at http://www.theburningbush.net.

There is a translation tool on
theburningbush.net website in the top left hand corner of all of the pages.

Prayer Warriors Wanted! Please join the
Burning Bush Prayer Group. The group began in 1998. Send prayer requests and
receive prayer requests. To join send an
email to: bbpg-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Ed Wrather has retired from
pastoring full-time and has more time to pursue other ministry opportunities.
You can make contact at edwrather@yahoo.com or theburningbushdevotional@gmail.com View LinkedIn profile with
endorsements at http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=92988105

Prayer Requests: Please pray for
the return of the Nigerian school girls. Many prayer needs are posted at the
Burning Bush website on the Prayer Request page. You can also post your prayer
requests there (Of course, I am always in need of prayer - please pray for
me.).

If you enjoy the devotional
please recommend it to your friends. They may subscribe by sending a blank
email to burningbushdevo-join@welovegod.org

There is a complete devotional
archive at the old Burning Bush website. Here is the URL: http://www.theburningbush.org/DevotionalArchive.html.

You can unsubscribe to the
burningbushdevo devotional group by sending a blank email to burningbushdevo-leave@welovegod.org
and then respond to the confirmation email.

You may subscribe to the html
text group (Because of time constraints the devotional is only being sent now
in html format) by sending a blank email to burningbushhtml-join@welovegod.org
and you may unsubscribe by sending a blank email to
burningbushhtml-leave@welovegod.org and then respond to the confirmation email.
If the link does not work, copy and paste the link.

To unsubscribe, send ANY message to: burningbushdevo-leave@welovegod.org