“In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.” (Proverbs 16:9 NIV)
On a Monday morning, working at a small table in the cafeteria, as opposed to the Sr. V.P. and General Manager’s expansive conference room connected to his large office, five of us were conducting our weekly staff meeting before employee breaks began. All five of us had some religious beliefs and were active participants in our churches. The General Manager was a respected member of the local Presbyterian Church. The Director of Finance was a member of a nearby Catholic church, was known for reaching out to serve the needs of the community. The Director of Purchasing belonged to a Pentecostal Church on the west side of town and was actually an Elder in his congregation. The Director of Sales was a member of the Mormon Church, but as you would expect he was pretty quiet about his beliefs, not wanting to engage in theological debate. And then there was me, an Associate Minister at a Baptist Church 10 miles west of our workplace. Now that I have painted a picture of the setting, let me share an experience with you.
These were the days gone by, back in the mid 80’s, a time when you showed off your status by having a daytime planner of a fairly good size. Okay, yes, I had one too, influenced by the culture. At every meeting we would open our calendars and review our week. These Monday meetings were long! They started at 8:00 and if we were fortunate, we might get out before lunch. We’re meeting and the 10:00 bell rings, signaling that employees were about to start coming in to get take their long awaited “anti-wellness breaks”. I say that because you could order a full “second breakfast” at a discounted price, and employees did just that, consumed the calories, and skipped the rest. When the employees came in, my four colleagues went to look at something on the distribution center floor. I volunteered to stay and watch our table. While performing this “duty,” I took a quick glimpse, better said, I meddled and looked at each of the other staff members’ “Week at a Glance” schedule. Their “things to do” were detailed for every day of the week on their calendars; some things work related and some were personal related. What shocked me, in view of all our stated involvement and good standing with our perspective churches, was that there was not one listing about God’s work on any of their church related “thing to do.” Oh, I was still in the development stage, but in my defense I did have Weekly Bible Study, Prayer Meeting, Sunday School Teachers’ Meeting, Youth Meeting, and Saturday Outreach on my calendar. Nevertheless, I was shocked that nothing remotely related to the work of God was on their schedule of things to do.
Another long story that leads me to a short question intended to impact your God-consciousness. I’m not going to ask you, “What’s in your wallet?” But I am going to ask you, “What’s on your calendar this weekend?” Is there anything related to God on your “things to do” list on your modern-day calendar, on your mind, or is there a not in the reminder app on your cell phone? Only you know the answer to my question, so respond to yourself and then go forward, amending your calendar if necessary to include God related things to do in your plans for today, and tomorrow, the Lord’s Day, I’m counting on you and God is depending on you! Be blessed!
“Ask the Lord to bless your plans, and you will be successful in carrying them out.” (Proverbs 16:3 GNT)
Committed to the climb,
Mark L. King