“But on taking leave of them [Paul] said, ‘I will return if God wills (Acts 18:21). Commencing our home service, Lula and I flew out of Hamburg last Friday and had a short layover in Frankfurt before boarding our plane to Chicago. About two hours into the transatlantic flight, the captain announced over the PA system that we would have to head back to Frankfurt because there was a problem with one of the plane’s engines. After landing safely, the airline notified us that they had rebooked us on the same flight 24 hours later—on Saturday. That would make it very tight for us to get to Our Savior, Grand Rapids, MI, by the next day (which did work out though, praise God). Then, while we were still in Frankfurt on Saturday morning, our family stateside requested that Lula be with them much sooner than we had originally planned on this trip. That meant that she would have to spin off from our home service almost from the outset and I will need to do our 18-stop tour solo. Hmm, this was not the way we had planned our home service… *** God gave us a brain so we can make well-informed plans for our lives, but our Old Adam likes to trick us into believing that *we* control everything. Take a look at this picture that I took on the flight to Chicago: from the front that door looks like it would open up to a lavatory, but like a Hollywood movie set, from behind you realize that the door actually leads nowhere. That’s a bit like the way it is in life: we think we’re in control of a situation, but in reality, our control is a mirage. As the old Yiddish saying goes, “Mann tracht und Gott lacht” (“Man makes plans and God laughs”). We can use this theological truth to witness to others. By adding the phrase “God willing” in our everyday conversations, just like St. Paul did, we can subtly demonstrate that it’s not us who controls our lives, but our triune God.
The Tiews in Germany 