Secure Passage vs Ragged Rocks

Most of us are familiar with the age-old expression, “The best laid scheme of mice and men often go awry.” (An adaptation from a line in To a Mouse by Robert Burns.) I had a best laid scheme for last week…to spend it hibernating at our trailer in the Muskokas, and it did not include relaxing in the sun with a book. I had planned on jumping into high gear with what I had written over the past several months to see where it would go.  And the object of my endeavours? Several chapters, titillating ideas, character genealogies—to balance with my previous two novels, all those time consuming ideas that had been birthed many months earlier.

But the week was not to be, at least not as I had planned it.

Four days prior to beginning my coveted retreat, I faced a major setback.  With the stroke of a key I lost 50+ pages. Gone! Just like that, and Robert Burns’ saying, predicated with “Oh, well!” didn’t help much! And what about my backup? I’ve always been diligent in maintaining them, but I had a hard lesson to learn…actually I had several to learn. Keeping a current back up was just one of them.

It took several days to get over the loss, and dressing up and going to a wedding in Quebec was a wonderful distraction. But the crushing reality loomed ahead: my plans for the following week had gone awry. I needed to play catch-up before I could move ahead. I struggled with defeat, discouragement and downright frustration.

And if that wasn’t enough…

Three days after the data loss and one day before the longed-for sanctuary, I faced yet another setback. For some unexplainable reason, my seven-point USB docking station fried all three USB ports on my less-than-a-year-old laptop. I could not read my external hard drive where I keep ALL my files! Suffice it to say, this only added to my grief! And I won’t tell you about the pulling out of hair and the gnashing of teeth!

Was I to take this as a sign that I needed to go in another direction or quit entirely?  Since I don’t  believe in signs and I don’t see myself as a quitter, I jumped in with both hands and began again. Doug emailed what dated files I had and a stranger gave me a blank CD so I could copy them and transfer them to my old laptop. Taking giant steps backward and baby steps forward, I did move ahead! Slowly, but deliberately.

Where is all this going? Well, I got thinking about my desire to write, my giftedness and my confidence and belief that God is on this journey with me—in fact, I’ll be bold enough to say that He has planned my life journey right up to the loss of my USB ports! I should take comfort in this knowledge, and yet being human, that doesn’t always come easily.  I try to wing it on my own in many predicaments, rationalizing, explaining, battling through the should-haves/could-haves/why-didn’t-I approaches. I forget that there is Someone greater than me that is in control of my life and that may include the loss of many month’s work. Yikes! That’s hard to take on a good day!

How we choose to live our lives (and it is a choice!) is a big question. When I went through this now minor setback (although it was not minor at the time!), I read something that helped me understand what I can do to prevent crashing against the “ragged rocks of reality” when life happens.

In In the Eye of the Storm, Max Lucado provides a list of  suggestions that will help us navigate through life applying “God-given, time-tested truths.” The list helped me and I wanted to share it with you just in case your computer crashes, or you get a run in your last pair of pantyhose or the zipper on your fly breaks just before a speaking engagement, or your wallet is stolen at an airport, or your spouse tosses all night long and keeps you awake…I think you get the idea. To quote Max Lucado, “Observe them [the suggestions] and enjoy secure passage. Ignore them and crash against the ragged rocks of reality.”

• Love God more than you fear hell.
• Make major decisions in a cemetery.
• When no one is watching, live as if someone is.
• Succeed at home first.
• Don’t spend tomorrow’s money today.
• Pray twice as much as you fret.
• God has forgiven you; you’d be wise to do the same.

We’ve got a choice to enjoy secure passage through life or crash against the rocks. And in the midst of our choosing, we can’t forget to keep current backups!