(God said) “I know what I’m doing. I have it all planned out — plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for.” (Jeremiah 29:11)

By Brenda Cannon Henley
Because this one verse of Scripture had been on mind since early yesterday evening, I awoke with the full intention of looking at it in several translations of the Bible that I have enjoyed using online. I wanted to satisfy myself as to exactly what it meant to me — and to you. I did not plan on spending the entire early morning on this one verse, but that is just what I have done. I read it in about a baker’s dozen of translations. I found that many used the word, “thoughts” as found in the King James Version of the Bible while “plans” was used in several others. In fact, “plans” is the way I heard it preached last week.

The verse above is a rather mixed gathering of thoughts from many translations. In every translation I studied, we get the straight truth that God knows us, He knows all about us, and He knows His thoughts and plans concerning us. I find that wonderful, comforting, and hopeful. The God of Heaven knows and cares about me. He cares when my heart hurts. He knows when I am happy, and He knows and cares when I am in pain and need a touch from His bountiful hand.

The Apostle Paul often compared the living of our lives to running a race. He instructs us in his writing to “run the race that is set before us,” and “to be prepared to finish this race well.” The sermon I heard last week emphasized that each of us has his or her own race to run. I cannot run yours and you cannot run mine. We each are called to our own starting line, we must make the decisions that guide our feet, choose the companions that will most help us, and stay faithful on our course. I have attended many road races in my life and in fact, have organized and conducted several large ones across this nation.

You can tell the true athletes as they arrive before the start and you can spot those that are out for a fun spring or fall morning with their pals. The real athletes are usually quieter, perhaps off to themselves stretching, resting, checking their gear, and seemingly getting “in the zone” as it were. The fun folks are laughing, chatting, meeting new friends and saying hello to old ones. Some will arrive early enough to walk the route and to determine places where they can break and gain distance on the competitors.

Almost every true runner I have ever known wants to win the race, if he is capable, and they want those big, beautiful trophies and plaques. And, seeing their names in the local newspapers is a huge incentive, too. But, if they cannot win the No. 1 award, they always want to better their own best time. Their big challenges are always themselves. I have seen grown men and women and teens by the dozens with smiles of glee when they realized they shaved a minute or two off of a formerly best time. They feel this way because it is “their” race and they are responsible for it.

Living for God is much the same way. Our lives, when we think of them as being run like races, really are between our Creator and us. He sets us on our course. He knows our health issues, our finances, our companions, our wants, our needs, and our desires. Where we mess up big time is that we forget and try to run someone else’s race. We try to keep up with the Jones’s as it were. We want that big house they bought last year. We must have that new auto they chose just before vacation. Our kids must have what their kids have. We must travel wherever they chose to go. And, on that position at work — we absolutely must get that promotion, or we’ll be out of the race.

Truth is, God gives each of us our own race and it is up to us to run well the one laid out before us. He will be right there with us every step of the way, and best of all, He knows the end and the plans and thoughts He has for us. Let’s quit spinning our wheels trying to run someone else’s race and get busy making progress on our own.

Brenda Cannon Henley can be reached at (409) 781-8788 or at [email protected].

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