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God's Changes to Your Appointment Calendar

My oldest son is a student at Concordia University in River Forest, Illinois. As I write this he is on a choir tour. Far in advance, plans were laid to sing at certain churches and stay with certain church members.

My son called the other night to share some of the exciting details of his travel. As his plane landed in San Francisco, one of the male flight attendants, who had discovered that a choir was on board, wanted to hear them sing. They did. The flight attendant was moved to tears and other passengers were deeply touched as well, as they heard God being glorified through song.

The Gospel has a way of penetrating right to the heart, and God’s timing is perfect. Singing within the fuselage of an airplane as it taxied to the gate was not on the choir’s concert schedule. But God saw fit to modify their schedule that morning. The choir and the passengers were both glad that He did. Singing to the glory of God at an unexpected time and place proved to be a meaningful and pleasant surprise for both the singers and the listeners.

God's Word in the book of Proverbs says,

Proverbs 16:9

"The mind of a man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps."

We plan our days and mark our calendars, but often our loving God moves to rewrite our day so we can really get something accomplished.

Jesus has undone the curse of sin that would have made our lives one unending day of futility. The curse of thistles and weeds would bury us in hopeless, miserable, unfruitful toil all our life if it weren’t for God’s promise to give us just the opposite.

Jesus paired God’s promise with this command,

I Cor.15:58

"Always be abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord."

Isn’t it great to know that our gracious God not only has marvelous plans for our eternity but gives us a life that is full today? He turns our activity into productive, joyful service to people as He leads us every hour of the day.

David praises God for being the master of his calendar when he writes,

Ps.139:16

"All the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be."

On February 27th, 2004, a jet carrying an excited choir from Concordia River Forest touched down in San Francisco, California. All their careful plans could not have predicted that their first engagement would be singing on the runway. God however had it on His calendar from eternity. What a marvelous and loving shepherd we have! He leads us to the green pastures of serving those who need us at just the right time and just the right place. The calendar for your life is marked with God’s loving purpose. In wisdom and love He has an excellent plan for you today.