Every coach goes into competition with a firm game plan in place. Through countless hours of film study, they have a pretty good idea of an opponent's tendencies, strengths and weaknesses. Practice sessions are structured to help players recognize these tendencies and to prepare for the "expected". However, as anyone who follows sports knows, rarely do things go the way we plan or expect. In football we have fumbles and interceptions; in basketball we see bad passes go out of bounds and missed free throws; in baseball, errors are often the difference between winning and losing; and I assume everybody who has ever played a round of golf has hit one in the woods or sand trap. It's not how we respond to the expected that challenges us, but how we deal with the unexpected. Sports and life are all about making adjustments and moving forward.

Jeremiah 29:11 gives us some sound coaching advice. In this verse, God promises that He has plans for us. It's interesting that God says "plans", not "plan". This would imply that He not only has a plan, but at least one backup. Could it be that God has a Plan A for us, but when we mess that up, He also has a Plan B? Could God even have a Plan X, Y, and Z if needed? I would suspect that most of us are not living the Plan A that God intended. Some of us are much further down the alphabet than we would prefer. That can be depressing and it's pretty easy to convince ourselves that we have failed God too many times. Facing the unexpected can be scary and even paralyzing. Jeremiah 29:11 assures us that God not only has His plans, but that those plans give us hope and a future. No matter if it's Plan A or Plan Z, God does not give up on us. God has more than one way to get there, we just have to keep doing our part. Never doubt that He is working to fulfill those plans.

"Father, I have heard it said that if we ever want to make You laugh, tell You our plans. You are the God of the unexpected! You parted the Red Sea; You changed Saul's heart on the road to Damascus; and You brought a Savior into the world as a baby. Thank You for Your promise of hope and a future through Your plans. Thank You for not giving up on us. Amen."