Glitches

Every computer in this house with ministry information has crashed in the last couple months. It began with my main computer...the one with all ministry stuff and personal family stuff, including all our pictures, which were not backed up. With little money to replace the necessary computers, and even less time to meet our Women's Edge Newsletter deadline and prepare for the upcoming Wood County Hospital Seminar, I was feeling a little overwhelmed when the only working computer (my beloved laptop...given to me by my beloved brother) joined my desktop in shutting down completely.

I am not a connoisseur of computers. I am barely a novice. Technology overwhelms me. I can't even text on my cell phone. And there was stuff to be done. People needed to be emailed about the first annual Ride for Grace Fundraiser. Fliers needed to be printed and distributed. Speeches needed to be written. There was not time in the schedule for computer failure. I only had Saturday and Sunday...then it would be back to work, running to golf tournaments, soccer practice, homework, supper, bath and bedtime...the rituals of the school/work week. And at the end of the week, I had a Sufficient Grace Ministries for Women meeting to prepare for.

Alas, my plans were interrupted. Instead of working and preparing, I spent most of the weekend looking for the recovery CD for my computer, and then...while saying good-bye to my hard drive and currently installed software, I installed the recovery CD. This took the majority of the weekend. I was able to painstakingly send the rest of the fall newsletter to Becki, the compiler of the newsletter and co-editor, without the luxury of the software program we generally use to publish the newsletter.

The little glitches continued. There were last minute errors found Thursday night in the newsletter. There were schedule conflicts for the Friday meeting. I lost all previous conference speeches on my computer. So, I was forced to search for the hard copy in the disheveled heaps of my disorganization hidden in the basement office. My plan to stay up late on Thursday to finish the preparations for Friday's meeting disappeared when I realized that I am no longer able to physically endure staying up all night to meet a deadline, and going to work in the morning. I need my sleep now...the twenties are long gone, and I just can't ask my body to perform the impossible anymore. Never mind the effects of no sleep on my already overloaded mind. Some days, I'm barely functioning with six to seven hours sleep...I don't want to see what I could forget, misplace, or mentally break down over, without proper rest!

As much as it pains me to give up my plans, I cancelled Friday's meeting, and decided to just finish the newsletter when we were able. The new plan was to make copies Saturday morning (not part of the original plan because Timothy had a golf invitational, James had soccer, and the Ride for Grace Event was kicking off ...all on Saturday morning!). I already needed to be at three places at once. But, as you know His plans are not always our plans.

The rains came down, and the floods came up. After months of glorious sunshine, and no rain for our dry and barren land...the rains came rushing in, quenching the thirsty land, but washing away all of our plans. The golf invitational was cancelled (but not until we had already taken Timothy to the bus and he had ridden all the way to the golf course, and had to ride all the way back. Then we picked him up from the high school). James' soccer game was cancelled. And the First Annual Ride for Grace...cancelled.

All of my concerns about timing and deadlines were unnecessary. God was in charge of the way the days and timing would fall into place. He knows what each tomorrow holds. My plans are futile and can be washed away with the rain. But His plans hold the promise of secure purpose. It turns out that most of the people I was concerned about letting down by not meeting the Friday deadline for the newsletter had conflicts about meeting on Friday anyway, and were relieved the meeting was cancelled. Saturday morning opened up and when Becki came to deliver the newsletter copies, she stayed while they printed and helped fold and staple. We didn't have our staplers (of course), but we borrowed the church stapler (and staples!). I reinstalled the printmaster program while we waited, and all was right with the world!

There's a saying in golf and I'm not really sure exactly how it goes. But the gist of it is that "Golf is not measured by how well you play when everything is going as it should. Golf is a game that is measured by how well you can recover when everything is falling apart." And you know, I think life's like that, too. Our days are not going to always flow smoothly. Our plans sometimes will fall apart. Goals may not be met. But our God remains steadfast, immovable, unsurprised by the changes and seeming chaos around us. He is in control. And His plans will never fail.

Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails.
~Proverbs 19:21