Church was unreal today. It never ceases to amazing me just how perfect God’s timing is, even down to what the title of a sermon is — today, it was entitled Happiness. AKA: “This one’s for you, Christin. Love, God.” To start it off, we watched a clip from “UP.” (Random, I know.) It was the sequence of events in the lives of Carl (the old guy) and his wife as they got married and grew old together. I’ve decided that it is most certainly the most depressing cartoon clip ever, by the way. So since they were just kids, they had this huge dream of traveling the world and seeing this waterfall. They saved money, but time and time again life happened…a flat tire, a fallen tree on the house, a hospital visit…and it always seemed to take the money set aside for their dream. It turns out, Carl’s wife dies before they’re ever able to do the one thing they always wanted to do. So how can we compare that to our lives? Sure, we all have dreams…and lots of them! But the harsh reality of it is we’ll probably never get to achieve some of them in our lifetimes. But the thing we must realize is that, our dreams are not always God’s dreams for us.

Jeremiah 29:11 – “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD. “Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future.”

Even just a few months ago, I never would have guessed that I’d be living in Bangkok, Thailand teaching 5th and 6th grade math! I planned on moving to Atlanta and getting my masters and Ph.D in astronomy at Georgia State…then that changed to staying in Cleveland and going to Lee for grad school…and next thing ya know, I’m 12 time zones away in freaking Thailand. God. Is. CRAZY! I know that if God had answered every prayer that I’ve ever prayed with a “yes,” then my life would be SO screwed up! I would have blue eyes and be playing basketball in the WNBA and married to 3 or 4 guys who were completely wrong for me! Lord knows I’ve prayed for a lot of things, but it’s a good thing that God knows what’s best for me better than I do myself. It’s comforting to know that when God says “no” to one thing, He’s got something even better planned for me. Being in Thailand now is making me realize this more and more everyday. I know there’s a reason for me being here, though I’d much prefer to be back in the States with my family and friends. Which brings me to the other point in the “UP” analogy…it’s important to note that since Carl didn’t get to visit the waterfall with his late wife, he ended up being a huge part of Russel’s life and making an impact on him in the end. Carl also rescued the bird thing and made a new friend in Doug the dog. So many more lives were touched because of one unfulfilled dream. We just have to realize that it’s not our timing, but God’s that’s so perfect. (Here I go again with my “timing” soapbox.) I find reassurance in my being here knowing that God’s going to use me to impact someone’s…anyone’s…life while I’m here. I figure he wouldn’t lead me this far to just drop me on my butt and let me be useless right? So, bottom line…when our prayers aren’t answered the way we want, that just means God’s got something even better up his sleeve. We just have to be patient enough to wait and see the end of the story.

Song of the day: “God Gave Me You” -Dave Barnes

I’m out. //Cwalk.