Today my friend Pam came over, along with her daughter Katie. Since they live in Denver, this coming-over was very special, an event that’s happened only a handful of times since Pam and I left college in 1967. These two ladies have criss-crossed the country to the tune of 5000 Jeep-miles, dropping in on people who’ve had a part in supporting Katie’s missionary commitment with Wycliffe Bible Translators. Thankfully my house was on their route, and we enjoyed sharing conversation and hot soup on this snowy winter day.

Pam remembered Lake Michigan as being the first really-big lake she’d ever seen (during our Wheaton years), so despite their tight travel agenda, after lunch the three of us made a quick trip to the beach. In an effort to save time, Katie volunteered to drive her Jeep to the lake, confident a fresh foot of snow wouldn’t hinder us.

But confident or not, most of life skips over Plan A and moves directly to B, C, and beyond. After a refreshing visit to the beach, we headed back to the Jeep through snow deeper than the underside of the car. Then as we tried to move forward (as well as back and forth), gravity slid us sideways.

We landed inches from a row of sharp rocks that threatened to slice our spinning tires, but Pam and Katie (seasoned travelers) were well prepared with two military-style shovels. As a result, our story had a happy ending, but we could easily have spun against the rocks, unable to move at all (Plan C), or found ourselves Googling “tire stores” for an evening of unplanned shopping and expense (Plan D).

No one is very good at predicting the unknown, which includes everything beyond the present moment. As those unknowns become known, sometimes we’re forced to pass through different Plans almost as fast as a child can sing the A-B-C song.

This afternoon Pam, Katie, and I had no desire for a Plan B, which included kneeling in deep snow and bending beneath car bumpers to speed-shovel the snow away from 4 tires. But we did it in an attempt to revisit Plan A rather than miss the travelers’ afternoon and evening appointments in Chicago.

This time, against the usual odds, that worked. After digging out, we proceeded with confidence, and the Jeep lurched from the drifts onto the road, allowing my visitors to get to Chicago on time.

But what about when lettered plans move through the alphabet faster than we can adjust to them? That’s when our only choice is to surrender to the Plan-maker who will show us how to view Plans A-B-C-D not as steps down but as stepping stones to the higher ground he has in mind for us. In his mind, each revision is progress.

And he doesn’t even require a 4WD to move forward.

“Lord…. in perfect faithfulness you have done wonderful things, things planned long ago.” (Isaiah 25:1)