Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed.
Proverbs 16:3
Saturday we celebrated Molly’s graduation from high school with friends and family at our house for an open house throughout the afternoon. We had been planning for this for about the past month.
The planning was ratcheted up a notch this past week as my wife, Connie and I frantically worked on getting things ready…food, decorations, tents, coolers, ice, desserts, yard work, etc…
Friday night before the event we felt we were in decent shape for the party. We knew that Saturday morning would be busy getting everything finalized but we were feeling pretty confident all would be fine.
Later that evening, around 9:40 a wicked storm came through which knocked out our power and that of all our neighbors (and later we would find out, thousands of others). Power was still out Saturday morning and did not resume until 7 PM Saturday (right after Molly’s party ended).
The very ironic thing about all this is that my men’s group on Friday just studied about planning and how to plan from a Biblical perspective. The study showed us that planning is crucial but that leaders need to be flexible and adapt to changes. These are a couple of the last lines in the lesson: “As you lead, be sure to plan. But in the process of your planning recognize that there will be changing circumstances beyond your control.”
Pretty appropriate for what was coming the next day for me, huh?
I have to give big-time props to my family. Everyone stepped up and helped to make it a fun day. In spite of the lack of power on a steamy afternoon, everything went great.
Looking back on it, the loss of power wasn’t really that big of a deal, it just added to the degree of difficulty in our preparations. Another thing it did is help us to more fully appreciate all of the friends who chipped in to help: Rick with much needed ice and coolers, Barb and the Bob and Beth with tents, Bob with a generator (which kept our fridge cold) and some great pasta salad, Keith and Julie with tables and chairs and many others who brought food and other helpful items.
At the end of the day, Connie and I looked at each other and both said we felt extremely blessed. We actually both agreed that we were thankful for the power outage as it added a degree of "fun" to the day and certainly made it memorable. Thanks to all of you who helped make this day a special one for Molly!
The planning was ratcheted up a notch this past week as my wife, Connie and I frantically worked on getting things ready…food, decorations, tents, coolers, ice, desserts, yard work, etc…
Friday night before the event we felt we were in decent shape for the party. We knew that Saturday morning would be busy getting everything finalized but we were feeling pretty confident all would be fine.
Later that evening, around 9:40 a wicked storm came through which knocked out our power and that of all our neighbors (and later we would find out, thousands of others). Power was still out Saturday morning and did not resume until 7 PM Saturday (right after Molly’s party ended).
The very ironic thing about all this is that my men’s group on Friday just studied about planning and how to plan from a Biblical perspective. The study showed us that planning is crucial but that leaders need to be flexible and adapt to changes. These are a couple of the last lines in the lesson: “As you lead, be sure to plan. But in the process of your planning recognize that there will be changing circumstances beyond your control.”
Pretty appropriate for what was coming the next day for me, huh?
I have to give big-time props to my family. Everyone stepped up and helped to make it a fun day. In spite of the lack of power on a steamy afternoon, everything went great.
Looking back on it, the loss of power wasn’t really that big of a deal, it just added to the degree of difficulty in our preparations. Another thing it did is help us to more fully appreciate all of the friends who chipped in to help: Rick with much needed ice and coolers, Barb and the Bob and Beth with tents, Bob with a generator (which kept our fridge cold) and some great pasta salad, Keith and Julie with tables and chairs and many others who brought food and other helpful items.
At the end of the day, Connie and I looked at each other and both said we felt extremely blessed. We actually both agreed that we were thankful for the power outage as it added a degree of "fun" to the day and certainly made it memorable. Thanks to all of you who helped make this day a special one for Molly!
3 comments:
The best laid plans, indeed. Big lesson there for me as well. I REALLY need to be more flexible when things don't work out according to how I want them to. Thanks for the lesson.
p.s. - I really enjoyed Molly's open house. It was a great gathering. Thanks for the invite.
Thanks Rick! We are glad you and your fam could come!
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