Someone once remarked, “Man makes his plans, God laughs.” The Bible gives a more helpful truth, “The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.” (Proverbs 16:9) What is this Proverb teaching us? First, it tells us something about ourselves. We too often believe that we are the captains of our destiny, the guardians of our time, in the planning of our lives. The book of Proverbs does not discount planning, preparing, and doing so with tact and strategy. In fact the overall tone of the book describes activity in all these areas as wise, or acting with wisdom. However; it is ultimately the Lord who will dictate and establish the way, or steps of where we walk. Implied in this is that the timing of our steps as well.

Right now our family is going through that experience. This has manifested itself through our kids schooling. On the last day of school our daughter Kyria was sent home with a letter from her school telling us that she would not be able to return to Cayuse Prairie. We found out this was due to a policy change, and now there were too many incoming 2nd graders for the Fall. This was hard for us to hear because our other two were invited to return. Kristin and I prayed about this and started to make plans. We concluded that as our lives increasingly are reorienting around living, ministering, and developing relationships in the Whitefish community, we thought it would be best to enroll our kids in the schools here. We have begun to look at living here as well, but thought we could take our time. For those of you who do not know, we currently live in the Creston area of the valley. Today we heard that only one of our kids would be able to be enrolled in Whitefish, another numbers issue. Another one of our plans thwarted! So, what is our Lord up to, what am I learning? The Lord will have to establish the steps and timing of all these plans we have, and the plans might have to change as well! But I know that our Father has a better idea of what we need and when we need it than I ever will.

I have two request. First, please pray for our family as we learn to trust our Father’s timing in regards to our kids’ schooling. Our kids had a hard time with the news that they would not be returning to their former school, but had grown in their excitement about attending school with so many of their friends in Whitefish. Disappointment is a hard lesson at any age, perhaps that is what God is teaching all of us; if so, pray for all our hearts. Both Kristin and I feel very much called to this church and community and will not be deterred in what we, and the elders, see as the leading of the Holy Spirit. In that vain, our Second request; find a rental here, in the next two weeks, so we would be automatically enrolled at the schools. If you have any serious leads, let me know!

You may be going through something similar, know that your pastor is right here with you, learning the lessons of trusting in our Fathers providence. I wish I had the answers, the insight into the future, the peak around the corner. I do not, but I will walk with you. More importantly, Jesus walks with us, “The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love…” (Zephaniah 3:17)

Rev. Ben Melli