Journey, an update 12-11-06

Paul replied, "Short time or long - I pray God that not only you but all who are listening to me today may become what I am, except for these chains." Acts 26:29
Agrippa said to Festus, "This man could have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar." Acts 26:32

I read these verses the other day and I started thinking about all I had recently read in Acts and Paul's response to his trials. Paul had been in prison for years without being formally charged. He could have bribed his way out, but he didn't. I wonder if he got discouraged, if he ever questioned what God was doing, leaving him in prison when he could have been set free. God's plan included serving while in chains. I imagine that Paul would have rather been serving in freedom. The same day I read these verses in Acts I got an e-mail with the following quote.

"Since the Lord often does the unexpected in our lives it is easy to think of him as being undependable instead of uncontrollable. Just because he doesn't finish our plans our way doesn't mean that he can't finish his plan his way." Roy Wisner

Sometimes I wonder about God's plan. It doesn't always seem to make sense to me because it isn't the way I would do it. But God is in control and He will finish His work in and through me. It is comforting to know that when God does the unexpected and takes me down unknown paths that He has the end in sight and that He knows exactly what He is doing.