Here's The Plan:

This past weekend Ginny and I planned.

Sunday, we spent six hours just talking over our options in a number of areas, discussing our goals, deciding on various actions, and setting a loose timetable for doing this or that.

For most of our talking we sat outside by the fountain watching birds raid the feeders and listening to the fountain, but as we got down to core decisions, we came inside and sat at the kitchen table with calendar, phone book, pencils and 3X5 cards.

We do not engrave our plans in stone.

The ancient Proverb says, “Boast not thyself of tomorrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth”.

The Apostle James echoes that adding, "Ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live and do this or that”.

But Ginny and I are planners so naturally during our planning we often asked God to guide us to the best decisions to make at the moment. And we suspect that He does so guide us but nevertheless we hold our plans lightly.

We realize that a single phone call in the night can disrupt any plan we may make yet it behooves us to look ahead as far as we are able – which realistically is about as far as from here to the coffee pot.

But we can’t sit around talking about stuff forever either because sometimes the future depends on what we chose to do today.

So, we canceled some things dear to us (no new car; repair the old one).

We postponed some things we’d thought of (Trip up north in November or December instead of next month).

We solidified some intentions (Make reservations for our Anniversary getaway).

And we decided on several changes in day to day living (No more grocery shopping on weekends, we have better things to do with that time together).

We also reviewed our hurricane/bird flu preparations.

Incidentally, for a good rundown on family and individual information about bird flu check out www.pandemicflu.gov . That site offers comprehensive information I haven’t seen elsewhere.

After all our long-range planning and decision making on topics as varied as world-wide plague and buying bicycles — we then came to the decision about where to have lunch.

That’s where things broke down.

As Alpha Male, head of this household, man responsible for our health, safety and well-being, I decisively chose a restaurant.

We drove there.

It closes at 2 o’clock on Sundays.

We’d talked in such detail and planned for so long that we’d missed the closing hour.

Settled for Chinese carryout.

Damn!

“I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. They are plans for good and not for evil, to give you a hope and a future”.