Change of Plans

by Kristen West

Acomplete conundrum. That’s what it was.

Three of my dear friends and I stood there in the Chattanooga airport gazing into the apologetic eyes of the Delta airline check-in attendant. “I’m so sorry,” the nice lady said. “All the planes are grounded due to the storm last night.”

My friends and I had been planning, preparing, and packing for this much-anticipated cruise vacation to New England for months. Now, it appeared as though we wouldn’t even get to leave our area.

The following 24-hour period looked like something scripted for a sitcom and involved some massive changes in plans.

We hopped a shuttle to Atlanta and jumped on a new flight to Boston (our cruise port) only to find that by the time our plane landed, we had missed the boat!

We grabbed our luggage, hailed a taxi, and headed for the nearest hotel.

By morning, we were strapped into an early flight that was off to Bar Harbor, Maine. (The airline “hoped” we’d land in time to connect to our cruise.)

Upon landing, we looked like we were on the starting blocks of the Olympic 500-meter dash. As soon as the aisle cleared, we sprinted out and caught the LAST shuttle that day heading to the cruise port.

We climbed in, giddy with excitement—we were almost there.

Our shuttle dropped us off within a few blocks of the dock, and as soon as we had our luggage in hand, we were sprinting again, determined to make it to our ferry that would finally connect us to our boat.

WE MADE IT! (*insert Chariots of Fire theme music here*)

All the twists, turns, and changes in plans hadn’t stopped us. They simply rerouted us.

Through it all, none of us got frustrated. No one became angry or upset. We all just enjoyed the journey. Every surprising and unplanned detail of it. To be clear, I wasn’t always like that. Sudden changes used to send my emotions into a tailspin or cause my stress levels to go into orbit. It took me years to get to a place where I could roll with the punches, pivot on a dime, or have my plans suddenly change without my innards crinkling up. (I’m not saying the work in me is complete, but a huge internal transformation has definitely taken place.) Can you relate? God, in His wisdom and mercy, knew ahead of time that sudden changes in plans might be an issue for us and graciously gives us this beautiful verse, “A man’s heart plans his way, but the Lord determines his steps” (Proverbs 16:9, HCSB).

Having that promise gives us daily opportunities to embrace our Father’s alternate routes for us and gives us the grace to change direction and live in the moment for whatever HE has planned!

About The Author Kristen West works at Rock Bridge Community Church with a heart for staff leadership, development, and care. She is a communicator with a passion to inspire, encourage, and challenge others in their daily walk with Christ. She writes and publishes weekly content on her blog at kristen-west.com.