Dude, Where's My Cart

We all have wants in our life. We want to win the lottery, buy that brand new car, or have the perfect house or family. Who doesn’t want those things? But do we ever think about what God wants for us and from us?

One day while working at Fareway, I’m putting cantaloupe on a table to make a display. I hear a little girl yell, “Mommy, I want to take this cart.” I turn to look and I see her point to the car cart which is a cart shaped like a car for kids to sit in and amuse themselves as their parents push them around and shop. The mother replied, “No, we just need a few things. We don’t need to take a whole cart.” The little girl began to cry, “But I want it,” she yelled. The mother squats down next to her and says, “I’m sorry, but sometimes we don’t get everything we want.” I smiled, turned back to my table and began to think about what had just transpired. That situation reminded me of multiple times I have wanted something. I didn’t always get what I ask for.

As my understanding and relationship with God has grown, I have realized why we don’t always get what we ask for. God has ideas and plans for our lives. He has things that he wants us to accomplish and what we ask for is maybe not what we need at that time. Ironridge Church gave all the graduates of 2007 that go to Ironridge a little gift for graduating. I got a little bowl with three stones in it and the stones have sayings on them. The reason I’m telling you this is because as I’m sitting here sharing my thoughts with you and I glanced at the bowl and the stones. One stone says faith, the other says trust, but the third stone that I just picked up had Jeremiah 29:11 on it. I didn’t know this verse and did not look it up in the past. I looked it up and this is what it said:

Jeremiah 29:11

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.

Wow… How weird is that? Everything that I have been trying to say is all right there in that one verse and what odd timing to finally look up that verse that was on the stone.

Think about the person that cares about you the most. Maybe it’s your parents or a best friend. Those people really care about you, but (and this is the best way that I can put this into perspective) multiply that with a number that is incomprehensible and this is the care that God gives to every individual. God’s love and care for everyone is on a much larger scale than the love and care people have for each other. But sometimes I think people get so caught up in their lives that they forget this. They forget that they need to just slow down and take a look around. They need to stop and see what God has in store for them.

Just remember, we all have wants and that is okay. We just can’t forget about what God wants. He is waiting for you to ask because he knows the plans he has for you and these plans are to give you hope and a future. Trevor