"My Brackets Busted!" or "God has a plan"

Well, I now have a busted bracket. Kansas losing last night was a big blow to all my predictions for the NCAA Basketball Tournament. I was really surprised because I had planned so meticulously. I did my research, crunched the numbers, and listened to all the experts. However, in spite of all my preparations, I still got so much of it wrong. I was still blindsided by the incredible buzzer beaters and the unbelieveable efforts of the teams who had no chance to win, yet did. I shouldn't be surprised because this happens year after year and I still come back every year and fill out my brackets and watch it go down in flames.
As I take a step back, I realize this is not an unusual occurance especially in every day life. We take great pangs in planning and preparing every aspect of our lives. We plan our futures in regards to getting married, having kids, planning careers, and celebrating traditions. Then out of no where, we get blind sided. A health crisis, a lost job, a death in our family and a host of improbable situations which spring up and turn our world upside down. So how do we deal with this? How do we live in the midst of all this uncertainty and unrest?
The only I have found to live in an uncertain and upsetting world is to live by faith. The Scriptures describes a life of walking by faith and not by sight. We will never have good enough plans, enough financial stability, or even having lengthy family holiday celebrations. We must live a life which the situations and circumstances determine and dictate what we do in our lives. Rather we should realize and understand God has every thing under control. He is never surprised by the things which seem to catch us off guard. He is always aware of what is going on in our lives not just for today but tomorrow as well. So we fix our eyes on Jesus who is our salvation and our sustainer. We can trust that He knows and is already prepared for it. So let us live with the joy of knowing we can trust in Him.
Oh yeah, My brackets may be mostly busted but I am glad I can still say, GO BIG BLUE!!!

"Find It Here" or "Hide and Seek"

This past week Baptist churches all across Kentucky started passing out bags to every home in a campaign called "Find It Here". We have been getting ready for this important ministry as well. In the midst of preparing and praying, I have been thinking about the theme of this event. It immediately brought my mind to a childhood game we used to play called "Hide and Seek". One person would close their eyes and count to predetermined number and the rest would scatter off and find the best place to hide. Then the counter, or the seeker, would begin their search to find the people who were hiding. Once they found one of them, then the game really picked up. The one who found the "hider" would try to tag them before they made it to base. It was so frustrating to work so hard to find someone just to watch them out run you to the base. Then you had to start all over again trying to find someone else until you were able to not only find them but also be able to catch them once you found them.
A lot times I feel like my relationship with God is a lot like Hide and Seek. It feels like He is hiding from me, and when I do finally find Him, I have a hard time trying to catch Him. This can be troubling because we read in His Word, "If you seek after Me, you will find Me." That sounds so simple, right? Then why does it seem so hard?
When I played Hide and Seek, I would find someone, then chase after them. When I chased after them I would inevitably find someone else and leave the one I was chasing to try and catch this new and hopefully slower (easier) hider.
Seeking after God is easy, continually pursuing Him is not so much. There seems to be easier ways to find what we are looking for but in the process we miss out on what we really need. And here's a hint about this chasing God thing. He's running away from you, He leading you to something better. You see, God's favorite game is not "Hide and Seek", it's "Follow the Leader"!