LW News Article - April 07

Grand Designs

Ali and I have just watched one of our favourite programmes about people who build their own, highly innovative, structures to live in. It might be a restored castle or hi-tech home imported piece by piece from Germany. Usually the house owner is themselves an architect who’s produced a detailed plan of how it should look and how it should be built. However tonight’s episode was based on a houseboat, being built from recycled and scrap material, with no more than a mental image of the finished product. The houseboat owner had no plan, no mooring and little idea of what he was doing. Unsurprisingly, the houseboat was incomplete by the end of the programme, he’d run out of money due to overspends and was about to be evicted from his mooring.

Fortunately God does have a plan for our life, not just any old plan but a Grand Design. He made clear the purpose of his plans for a nation in exile through Jeremiah: -“For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Encouragingly I believe that His plans for our life are similar. However we do have to trust Him and follow His plan, which is not always easy because it’s rare for us to see any more than the next couple of steps – it takes faith. Jeremiah goes on to spell out the rewards of following this path: “ Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart”

Have a happy Easter

Andy