Other Plans.

 I bought this t-shirt last August when I saw Ben Fuller perform at Helmar Palooza. He has a song by the same title. Very powerful. Take a listen to it if you can. When I saw this shirt it triggered me to think about all the things that God as saved me from or protected me from. He has other plans for me. Things that I had no idea about. If you would have told me years and years ago that I would become a pastor in the future, I would have asked you what you were drinking!! He had other plans!

The fact that I am still breathing today is by the grace of God. I have done plenty of stupid things in my life that could/should have ended me. But here I am. Thanks to God! He had other plans!

I was wearing this shirt the other night when I went to make a hospital visit in Aurora. On my way home, just a little south of Elburn, I was approaching the intersection of 47 and Main St. The light was red, so I went to apply my breaks, only to discover they weren't there. Nothing, nada, gone! I started freaking out to say the least. I was approaching the intersection at over 50MPH with no signs of slowing down! I went to move the gear shifter into neutral to try and take some of the power away from the drive. Nothing. Lever did not move at all. Dear Jesus, take control. I had no idea what to do in that moment. As a last ditch effort, I tried the gear shifter one more time. With all the force I could muster, I was able to shift all the way up into park. Whew! Nope, van kept moving. Even in park! So I prepared to blast through the intersection. I started blowing my horn and flashing my lights to let everyone know that I was not stopping. Then, I prepared for impact. For a car coming from the other direction, or a car turning left onto Main St. 

I made it through the intersection without an incident. No crash, nobody got hurt, Praise Jesus! It took me over a mile to get stopped, with the van in park. I coasted to a stop on the shoulder and called a tow truck. No way I was going to attempt that again. So they came in hooked my up and towed my van back to DeKalb. As they were hooking up to the van, one of the workers noticed my shirt and said that he liked it. I had forgotten what I was wearing, so I looked down. Yep, I told him. God sure does have other plans. Things could have gone much worse than what happened, but God was with me and protected me.

I started praising God for everything. I praised Him for getting me to stop on a very wide shoulder of road. I praised Him for when it happened. It happened at 9:30 at night. Not much traffic out at that time. If it had happened at 5:30 in the afternoon, things would have been much different. I praised Him for the tow truck getting there quickly. Despise what happened, everything went extremely well afterword. I give God thanks for that. 

I don't know what His plan is for this happening, but I'm sure it is for somebody I know. I have been telling everyone about what God did for me in that moment! He gets all the praise, glory and honor. I did nothing but hold on for dear life!

Psalm 28:7 New Living Translation

7 The Lord is my strength and shield. I trust him with all my heart. He helps me, and my heart is filled with joy. I burst out in songs of thanksgiving

I was mentally shaken up, but otherwise fine. God had His arms of protection around me, once more. He never fails and His timing is never late!

Psalm 55:22 Living Bible

22 Give your burdens to the Lord. He will carry them. He will not permit the godly to slip or fall.

God bless.

Rev. Kev.