Ayden United Methodist Church

Among his many other talents, our Lay Leader, Vance Sullivan is a very skilled bowler on a very skilled bowling team. At this writing, they are participating in a national tournament in Las Vegas. Unlike other things in Vegas, he will not stay there, and I expect to see him and Josette returning soon with laurels.

Not to be outdone, I have established a league of my own. Bowling alleys and rules aside, my bowling is what I call “Freestyle.” The lanes are on Memorial Drive where, as most of you know, anything can happen and frequently does. So it was, the other day as I traveled south in the right lane, that a bowling ball came rolling across the road narrowly missing the car to my left. But its trajectory was so well timed, it was perfectly centered on my Ford Freestyle. With nowhere to go and no time to slow down much, I had a sense of foreboding as the front of the car engulfed it…Strike!

Normally, I don’t envy those big-wheel toy trucks covered in mud, but one would have come in handy at that moment. The ball hit squarely on my oil pan, cracked it and decided to hang on as I dragged it down the road. Vance would have been proud of the way I curved it into a motel driveway. Not many bowlers can do a 90- degree maneuver. I managed to put the front tire up on a curb and let the thing roll out. That was the only gutter ball I’ve ever been proud of.

So it’s back in the shop with my car. (Only a few weeks ago an ambulance backed into it while it was parked…but that’s a whole ‘nother sport!) The folks at the insurance company had not heard a similar claim, but they believed me and will cover most of the damage.

Someone has said, “Life is what happens when you have other plans.” That’s because we plan blindly. We can’t see what really lies ahead; we can only see what has happened and assume it will happen like that again. The Stock Market was doing great things for our retirement, but the power-hungry and the greedy…folks we voted for and trusted with our money…ruined it. Hindsight is only as good as the people who use it. Most of the time, we ignore it and hope to beat the odds. Those “you should have known better” events remind us that our plans are flawed by our agenda, which creates bad assumptions.

Then come the bowling-ball-out-of-left-field kinds of events, the “whoda’ thought” thing that reminds us of the random world we can’t really plan for. No matter how brilliant, nimble or quick we are, there are “gotcha” moments for everyone.

But not everyone is blind to the future. God sees it all, past, present and future, as one. God manages all that with more integrity than a politician or “FANNIE MAE” executive, which I guess is not saying much: and with an understanding of the universe that, to God, is not random at all. Better yet…God has a plan. Christians know that faith in institutions, power or money constitutes a false hope. All will fail. But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.” (Isaiah 40:31) That faith can see you through the next “strike” with plenty to “spare.”