Making God Laugh

I love the joke that the best way to make God laugh is to tell Him your plans. Our plans don't always work the way we want them to.

We had planned today to go off to the fair as a family and spend the day together. But, God laughed at that plan today. When my wife woke up, she had a very bad neck strain and asked me to get up with the kids so she can get some rest and feel better. Normally that's no problem at all, but I had a hard time sleeping last night and only got a few hours of sleep. But, because I'm awesome and super dad (and I learned how to use the coffee pot), I got up with the kids.

There are days when people wake up on the wrong side of the bed. We have placed our son's bed against the wall so that it would be hard for him to get up on the wrong side. But, today is one of those days. His mommy and I have been feeling a bit under the weather this week, and I think that he does as well and he woke up very cranky.

So, we add Lisa's neck pain, my exhaustion, and our son's crankiness with the fact that its raining outside today (not too surprising, when you plan to be outside in Southeast, rain tends to happen), and it equals a day of taking care of each other instead. Lisa's gotten some extra rest, I had some coffee installed by IV while she rested, I've had a nap, our son's had two and our daughter has had her multiple sets of naps. The exhaustion has stemmed away a bit, I feel better and I can help take care of my family. I think they need me today, when our kids are cranky and we aren't feeling %100, we need to team up with them.

So, no fair, no petting zoo for our son. But, that's okay, most of the animals at the petting zoo come from a corps member's house anyway. Its not what we planned, but maybe God knew Lisa and I needed to be able to be there for each other and our kids today. Since God knows me as well as He does, He has a habit of knowing us better than we want. If I hadn't planned on closing the store for the day to have fun with my family, I wouldn't have closed it without warning an I'd be there now working when my family needs me to be there for them today. So, today's not what I planned. I got to make God laugh today. But, He blessed me in making me be where I need to be. Knowing your family needs you, its a good feeling. Thanks for daily lessons Lord.

BLT says........when God changes your plans, look and see what He has in store for you. After all, His endings are always the best.