The mind of man

**I started writing this last Saturday morning and was interupted by sweet little people. It is just now finished.**

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Second cup of coffee.

It's such a beautiful morning.

This is the last day in a week of perfect weather.

It's incredible.

It makes me ask questions like:

"Why didn't God design every day to be the perfect temperature and clear and bright, cool in the morning and warm in the afternoon?" He placed the sun the perfect distance away from the earth, tilts the planet to the perfect angle and makes the seasons change. Why didn't he just make it beautiful all the time?

And another question:

If all creation glorifies God and his qualities have, in fact, "been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made," then WHAT does the changing weather teach us about God?

It seems everything brings up questions in my mind. Hopefully one day I will find answers to some of them.

Another question I've been considering for a couple days now is:

"How does God go about direct our path?"

Mike and I have been blessed to have started off our relationship with an understanding that "God's way is right." And that we would be wise to follow Him instead of go our own way. It goes without saying that we are both sinners and often fumble the easy things, that we battle constantly with our selfish desires verses God's way, so I'm not going to go into all that right now.

But. I do want to say that It's been a blessing to be able to say that Mike and I have, our whole married life, been intentional about seeking God's plan for our lives when having to make decisions regarding our future.

Does that mean we have made the right choice every time a major decision comes our way?

Going to A&M for school?
Joining the air force?
Various career moves?

Who knows.

Here's what I do know. Mike is an excellent planner. He looks up information, he talks to people, he checks out the maps, he finds stats, he is always as informed as he can be before making a decision. I'm thankful for his vigilance as it is important to me also to know what we're getting into :-)

Mike has, by hard (and ethical) work, put himself in positions to do well. He has pursued different avenues in his career, with the driving force being to follow God's lead, provide for his family, and be able to spend more time raising his sons.

The last two years he has applied for pilot training. God has said no.

About 3 months ago he got a phone call from some guy who is in charge of selecting the pilots for RPAs (remotely piloted aircraft). He offered Mike the job.

When you have literally hours to choose between two perfectly good options, which one do you pick?

And does it really matter which one you pick?

If you are seeking God's direction and He hasn't made it evident, is it like He is saying: "Choose whichever, I'm the one who will direct your path."?

I'm wondering all this because, we decided to say "Yes," to that man who offered Mike the RPA job. For the last three months we have been expecting to be moving in February to San Antonio for training and then on to Las Vegas. We planned on leaving our friends and moving out of the Bible belt. We planned on tough training with the hopes that there would be much more time at home for Mike. No more deployments, few TDYs.

Last week Mike had some medical tests done. He has a very slight eye problem, he has a hard time telling differences between similar shades of green. Before last week, we had no idea. It's just bad enough to disqualify him from pilot training.

So just like that, all our plans change.

That was attempt #4 to get out of C-130s.

Every time it looks like Mike has set himself up perfectly for the move. Every time it falls through. I can just picture us as cartoon characters, scratching our heads and saying "What are the odds of that?"

The only explanation is that God wants us here.

I think I am beginning to understand the verse:

"The mind of man plans his ways, but the Lord directs his steps." -Prov. 16:9

So what I think I am learning is this:

If we love God,
If we seek God --daily, all the time, with every decision,
If we are willing to follow Him,
--Then it doesn't matter what choice we make when the right way isn't clear.

He will direct our steps.

I think I just don't give God credit enough. I feel like it's all up to me to make this decision correctly.

Should we have more children?
Should we move two houses down so that we can have an additional bedroom?
Where should I go to college?
Should I take this job?

He will direct our steps.

I just need to chill and let Him.