Sunday 9/13/15 Planning (1)

Dear Father in Heaven: I love You very much and I appreciate all the plans You have laid out for us, long before we were even in the womb. Thanks for a great church service this morning coming right into our very own living room. Thanks for watching over our family and our friends, and we would appreciate it, dear Lord, if You would continue that blessing. We also ask that You would watch over our flock on this line. Please help me now with the daily message and then to get it dispatched. In the Name of Jesus I give thanks and pray. Amen.

Dear brothers and sisters: Years ago I sat in my homeroom at John Harris High School in Harrisburg, PA, watching the clock. We had to go back to our homeroom to be dismissed. The period from 2:55 PM to 3:05 PM seemed to last forever. How I wanted out of school to get in my car and head to work. Seems like that was just yesterday and last year we had our 55th reunion. Where did all that time go? Along the lines we did a lot of planning about a lot of things. Today I want to talk to you a bit about planning.

Sunday: September 13, 2015: Planning (Day One)

Proverbs 14:22 - Do not those who plot evil go astray? But those who plan what is good find love and faithfulness. (NIV)

Growing up as a child I did not need to worry or be concerned about plans and planning as my parents would take care of that. I did not plan much in school either, and that led me to take the Submarine course. Yes, I think we had that for all my grades were below "C" level. All kidding aside, others would plan the dances, others planned the service, Danny just had to plan a tad, I just had to be there. Most of the time I just planned on going to work, the only school dance I went to was my senior prom.

After I graduated (thanks to the help of Patricia Wells Pierce) planning became more involved. It seems like I was always planning something and that has not changed.

When working at Central Dauphin School District heading up the transportation department, planning went on year-round. And safety drills, thanks to Bob Coburn, my assistant for a lot of years, we had some of the best planned drills a district could have. We rolled buses over and had drivers watch and the first responders, fire companies and ambulances would drill with us. One drill I will never forget was when we showed drivers just how long they had to get kids out of the bus if there was a fire. With drivers watching, Bob lit a small brown paper bag like a lunch bag and laid it on the seat of one of our old buses. Within a minute the seat was on fire with heavy smoke in the bus. In less than ten minutes the heat was so high in the bus that the windows were breaking. Yes, of course the gas tank was removed as safety came first, even in drills. Planning and planning.

This morning I was watching a news show before our church service and they were talking about how much planning is going into the Papal visit later this month. I might add here to all of you that we need to cover our Catholic brothers and sisters in prayer that there is not a major hit on them. While I do not refer to a priest as "Father," I just refer to them as pastor, as other than our earthly father the only one we should be calling "Father" is our Father in Heaven. However, they are a Christian-based religion and we, regardless of our church affiliation, need to cover them in prayer.

Tomorrow I want to write more on Planning and what I want to write about,  God willing, will be a Plan of Salvation, with all the scriptures to show each one where they come from.

Please, as we pray for the events that are coming with the visit of Pope Francis, pray that they are all "Born Again" and the Holy Spirit overwhelms all those going to the event.

Our scripture of today asks this question. "Do not those who plot evil go astray?" And yes, they do. Those who plot evil, just like Satan himself, have no future to look forward to, only the fires of hell. The scripture also states, "But those who plan what is good find love and faithfulness." Which side of this fence do you want to be on? Your choice. Just as you have a choice of going to Heaven or Hell.

Tomorrow the Plan of Salvation.

Now go forth and please serve Jesus.  Love ya.

Pastor Dan