a two year olds tackles and the meaning of life.

It is so good to be home. After an amazing week in Orlando at the church planting bootcamp I was more than ready to come home again.

If you travel much you know the feeling. And maybe like me you've been a bit suprised by the little things that you miss when you're gone.

I have a theory that what we value is better revealed through what we miss than what we desire. Let me explain:

When I'm home going through my everyday life the things I often spend much of my energy on are not nessissiarly the things I miss most when I leave.

The things I miss most I think actually reveal what I most value. For the good or the bad.  I missed getting my head squished under a dog pile while hearing Dante yell "tackle!" in the manliest little 2 year old voice you ever heard.  I miss Justus half awake, crawling into my lap in the mornings and knowing that he feels like he's in the safest, most comfortable place in that world at that moment. I miss the random conversations Christina and I have as we lay in bed trying to fall asleep after whirlwind days. (And yes, I do absolutely freak out when my iphone doesn't have good enough signal to get online...)

What do you miss most when your gone? For me remembering what I miss most allows me to focus on what I value most when I have it.  I forget how mortal I am. I forget how fleeting the time I have is. I need reminders that refocus me on the things that deserve my focus.

What do you miss most when you leave home? Does what you value most get the best of you on a daily basis? Or do we spend so much energy maintaining the peripheral that the essentials get the leftovers?

When Plans Change.

Plans don't alway go as planned.  Having no plan is a plan for going nowhere, but the best plans plan for the unplanned. Clear as mud? Good, welcome to my life!

I had a chance to go "home" to Michigan and speak at their Junior High camp last week. (It was amazing. but more on that later.) We'd been planning this trip for months and as I was opening the trunk of the van to load the packed bags my wife called and informed me that the Dr was putting her on bed rest effective immediately. Plans had changed.

Funny how life does that.

Proverbs 16:9 says it like this: In their hearts people plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.

Earlier in verse 3 it says that if we commit to the Lord whatever we do, that He will establish our plans.

I think it works a bit like this: "God I'm going to seek you as I make my plans, then I'm going to trust you when life doesn't go according to my plan."

We seek His wisdom on the front end and trust His provision on the back end.  I didn't plan on leaving my bed ridden wife and two year old son behind as my three year old and I drove 711 miles and 4 states away.  But we sought God, did our best to trust His provision and worked out tails off to tweak our plans and do what we felt He was calling us to do.

I have a feeling that's not the last time I'll have to do that.

And this time everything turned out just fine. Christina is still sitting in that hospital bed, a bit bored but otherwise doing well.  God moved in amazing ways at camp and I was able to be a part of some amazing moments with students from all over Michigan.

Now I'm sitting in a coffee shop making more plans. Plans for flying to FL for a church planting bootcamp, plans for taking care of my boys while their mom is on bedrest, plans for all the random details of this church plant and plans for several other things that are happening right now.

But this time I'm holding a bit more loosely to those plans. I'm keenly aware that at a moments notice every plan I've made could change. It's a bit unnerving and a bit freeing at the same time.  I'll commit these plans to God, but in the end "The Lord establishes my steps."   I may not understand everything, but I'll do my best with what I know, and trust Him with what I don't.

That's the plan anyway.