Sermon On Forward Planning

Napoleon Hill, an American self-help author once remarked: “First comes thought; then organization of that thought, into ideas and plans; then transformation of those plans into reality. The beginning, as you will observe, is in your imagination.” James 4:13-16 reminds us: “Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit” - yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.”

Forward Planning is the process of setting aims or targets, placing the ideas devised into chronological order and executing them to achieve the required result. However, planning is probably considered more about hope than actual achievement. There is a poem by Robert Burns that includes: “The best-laid schemes of mice an men / Gang aft a-gley.” This effectively reminds us that no matter how carefully we plan, success is never guaranteed. Things have a habit of going awry when we least expect them to.

Some people in life believe in meticulously planning for the future, it is ingrained in their minds, and life as they know it, would not function properly in its absence. Others may prefer to take life as it comes. They believe that each day is individual and separate from all. They consider that in uncertain times, it is a futile effort to plan for things in advance. What will be, will be. However, those who are determined to plan ahead will inevitably draw proposals and time scales to fulfill the task. God’s planning can provide a future and a focus. Jeremiah 29:11 confirms: “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”

A true story is told of a man who had been struggling in life with financial difficulties for more than a year, since losing his job through the collapse of the company he worked for. Despite all efforts to seek work, he remained unemployed and was currently three months in arrears with his mortgage payments. He regularly struggled on a monthly basis to make ends meet. As he had previously maintained a keen interest in photography, this hobby presented an opportunity that might help him out of his immediate predicament. He planned to set himself up as a professional photographer with a specialization in weddings. Shortly after the instigation of his new-found business, a couple approached him regarding taking photographs for their impending wedding.

The assignment involved two separate sessions. The first, outside the church at the conclusion of the service of marriage and the second, scheduled for the same evening at 19:00 at the wedding reception in a local village. When the wedding day arrived, after the service, which had been conducted at the local church at 11:00 in the morning, he proceeded to take several photographs of the happy couple and their guests as they stood outside the church. The first session went according to plan and without hitches. Unfortunately, the second was destined to become fraught with disaster for him. He owned an extremely dated car that was in much need of a major service, but sadly, hadn’t been completed due to the expense. He lived about 45 minutes drive from the reception hall and left home an hour beforehand to ensure that he was not only early for the appointment, but hopefully would create a good impression for his first customers.

This made good business sense as recommendations from satisfied customers would create future work for him. Unfortunately, it was a bad evening weather-wise. Heavy rain persisted, combined with poor visibility. As he traveled along a country lane close to the venue, with every available accessory such as lights, wipers and the heating fan in full operation, due to a poor battery state, the engine died on him and the vehicle came to a halt. He was stranded. He tried in vain to restart it, but without result.

His only remaining hope was to possibly restart the engine by a push-start from any kind person or roll the car down a steep hill that was located at the end of the lane in which he was driving. As it was dark, wet and nobody was around, he decided that his only available course was to push the car to the junction where the hill was located.

In addition, to his good fortune, the hill led to the start of the village where the reception was being held. He got out of the car, lowered the driver’s window and slowly steered the car to the junction. Unfortunately, he underestimated the gradient of the hill. As he approached, his plan was to turn the vehicle 90 degrees to place it in a straight line facing downwards at the top of the hill. He would then swiftly open the driver’s door and jump in as the car began to gain momentum, place the gear lever into second gear as it picked up speed and raise the clutch pedal sharply whilst depressing the accelerator fully. These chronological actions, would hopefully, successfully restart the engine.