I have always found comfort in the wisdom of Proverbs 16:9, In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps. It’s good to make plans and work towards goals, but as we have all experienced, things don’t always go to plan. This is where this proverb is most helpful. Sometimes it’s in the things we don’t plan that reveal God’s plans the clearest. 

An example of this is why Ryan Vallee is preaching today. Originally Stephen Meharg was planned as our preacher, however, due to circumstances beyond our control, Steve needed to postpone. Well, it just happened that the week before, Ryan had mentioned to me that he was available the same day. So I checked again, and he was good to go. 

Now here’s the ‘Lord establishing our steps’ part. We had already planned our Alpha dinner and an Alpha training event for after Easter. In fact Ryan is QB’s Alpha director and was helping me organise the training event. Last week I wrote in the newsletter about this idea of inviting people to ‘come and see’ Jesus, which came out of our staff devotions. When Ryan sent me his sermon title I could hardly believe my eyes. 

COME AND SEE. 

In my mind, this is revealing God’s plans, through an unplanned guest speaker, to work powerfully through the upcoming Alpha series. It sounds to me like Jesus has been preparing people to accept the invitation to come and see in the next Alpha. So let’s not leave that one in the ‘it doesn’t fit with my plans’ box, but grab hold of this opportunity from God to invite someone along. God has revealed his plan to fill us with faith. 

This also made me take a risk on something else that’s been in my heart for some time. Baptism is the outward symbol of someone who has become a Christian. It’s not for those who reach some higher level of Christianity, it accompanies salvation. It simply refers to confessing with our mouths what’s happened in our hearts. I can’t think of a better day to get baptized than Resurrection Sunday, but we don’t have any baptisms planned. We have added a space in the service program for baptisms anyway. If you have become a Christian but have never been baptized, why not Easter Sunday. Simply email me at martin@thegrove.org.au and I will get in touch. Can’t wait to celebrate new life!

Let's make plans, but never plan the movement of God out of the picture. 

May he do many unplanned things to establish our steps in life and faith. 

Marty