Day Eight Right, 58 Left

What an enlightening day.

I started the morning with a nap, as Shaggy the Cat woke me up before dawn with a discussion (meowing) as to whether he should go outside or stay inside. Too groggy to go for 8 miles, I decided Wednesday would be the 2-mile run day. I ran more today than my previous attempt - maybe a mile and one fourth. I got back to the house and attended to some paperwork, cleaned myself up, and made it to my noon appointment.

After a sensible grilled chicken wrap at Otter's, I stopped by Costco to get water (but sampled no food), and REI to exchange Maribeth's split pants for a new pair (and also got a few surprises to send her). I returned home in time to run errands and complete more mundane tasks. Steve came home and we had dinner.

Pretty much a slow day in terms of pursuing my eight goals. However, as I said, it was an enlightening day. Here's why:

In an earlier post, I said that God is in charge of the small things as well as the big things. Today was one of those days I learned that again. Here's the story:

After my cruise and a week of jet lag, I decided that I wanted to schedule a time with Rebekah. So, on Monday, June 4, I gave her a call. Her answering machine came on, and I left a message. A day or so later, I had not heard from her. I thought this was odd, since she is always so prompt in returning my calls. The next Monday rolled around, and still no reply. I figured that I must have messed up my answering machine response. I knew that I had forgotten to leave my phone number, but I hadn't changed it from the one she had. Another week rolled around, and still no call back.

Two weeks had passed, and I started to consider reasons why she hadn't called. But before I turned my theories into full blown stories, I decided to try again. I emailed (in case her phone line had been eaten by rats) her on Monday, June 18. A day later, still no response. This was really getting weird. By the end of the week, I had developed every story from she's dead, or in a coma, or in the South of France with the mailman, or just really pissed off at me for some unknown reason.

So, God said to me, "Why don't you just give that over to me?" I know when I do that, He will take care of it. I also know that in giving something over to Him, I accept that His outcome will be THE outcome. While it may not be my desired outcome, it will be the best outcome. So, I gave Rebekah over to God.

For the next day or so, I kept taking the situation back, by worrying why Rebekah hadn't responded, and planning my next course of action (two weeks after the email I was either going with the pony express or a singing telegram). Every time I would wrestle with the issue, I could hear God saying, "I thought you gave this to me. Do you trust me?" Of course, I did, and would give it back to Him and pray for Rebekah's safety. Finally, whenever I started to think about it, I just started chanting to myself, "Let it go, let it go, let it go" and pray again for her well-being.

A few more days (and a lot of chanting) passed, and here we are today. I was brushing my hair, and I got this impression to call Rebekah. Of course, I got antsy, asking, "Is this you God, or is it me?" I prayed, and I heard again, "Call Rebekah." So, I did, wondering what I am going to do if I get another recording. I didn't - I got the real deal. As it turns out, she got neither the message nor the email. We're back on track, and I will see her soon.

What does all this mean for today? For one, there is more to my life than these goals. I am pursuing these goals, and I believe they are goals that God wants me to achieve. But if I spend every moment of every day in pursuit of these goals, I will miss everything else that is going on.

Secondly, the one thing I am certain of is that God is in control of my life. Why didn't Rebekah get the messages? Because there were things I needed to do before I got in touch with her. God knew that, and looking back over the three and a half weeks, I can see that.

These eight goals are important to me. But I have to be sure that I am following God's plan, and not just my own. I believe my success will be in direct proportion to the dependence I put on God. Just as yesterday I listed some of the people that are part of my life, today I realize that God has to be the biggest part of my life.

I started this project with the idea that these eight goals would change my life. The enlightening part is that I'm just beginning to see the possibilities of what these changes can be.