Will

today is the day of the fall retreat with my students. I should be stoked. and I am. but I am also stressed. alot. You see, I don't do well with administration stuff, so while I can hop in a van and go somewhere with kids- the politics, paperwork, and money of trips like this freak me out. Some of it is because I am unexperienced with it, and as I get used to it it will get better. Some of it is my own low self esteem that I can't do something that I actually can. And some of it is just plain paranoia.

For example- it is raining right now. Weather channel says it will all weekend. That would be great except we are going to a place where the only real fun stuff to do is outside. Now granted, it will be fun regardless, but the "main attractions" if you will, are outside.
I realized that I never checked the weather when I planned this. But then I realized- God did. And if I was operating under God's will when I planed this, then He knew all along what the weather would be like. And even more awesome- if it does rain tomorrow- it is because He wanted it to, for a specific purpose.

I wanted this weekend to be about unity, and how else do you unite than being stuck in a room with people!
I posted on my twitter today "Pray for clear skies tomorrow". How stupid of me.
I was thinking out of my own selfish plans because that is what I do when I panic, I try to fix it myself. And everytime I am scrambling to try to find some difficult answer, like "I need it to not rain" rather than using Occam's Razor and arriving at the simpler answer hours before my difficult answer. The easy answer is this- "if it rains and you can't go outside- who cares. God is there with you, and He planned this weekend. God doesn't get His plans rained out."

It all boils down to my faith in God. There are a few ways Christians rely on God. (1)Janitor- They pray to Him asking Him to fix things for them. To clean up the mess they have made. (2) High School Guidance Counselor- They come to Him after trying to sort through it on their own and halfway listen until they have their answer. (3) The Lottery- Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. But then there is number (4) The Leader- People pray to God to guide their lives, to plan for them. When something goes "wrong" they realize that it's not wrong, its exactly the way God meant for it to happen. Nothing is outside of God's will.

Remember that: nothing is outside of God's will. Not your flat tire, not your family tragedy, not your promotion... not the rain at your retreat. Because it's not yours. It is His flat tire, it is His family tragedy, it is His promotion. You are the surrogate, if you will.