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It's summer time! The time when many people take vacation trips with family and friends. Of course, booking these trips requires some decision making and careful planning, but no matter where you're going there are always two different approaches you can take for arranging the perfect getaway:
- Self-booking: You can look on-line or in the paper, figure out where you want to go, do your own research on transportation and lodging options and book everything yourself down to the last detail. The great thing about this is that you have total control. You can go where you want, when you want, how you want and no one can tell you otherwise! How great! You can also find some great deals along the way if you're financially savvy. The downside, however, is simple. Unless you have previous experience with the location and the options available to you, you take a big risk in relying on your own research to make the right choices.
- Booking through an expert - The other option for arranging a trip is to contact either a tour guide or other knowledgeable person and pay them to arrange the whole trip. Not only do these people have first hand experience to rely on, but they often can provide information not available on-line. They can even set you up for an all-inclusive tour that provides your transportation, lodging and itinerary for the whole trip so that all you have to do is show up! You don't need to think about any of the arrangements, because the experts have taken care of it. While this option is typically more expensive and you do sacrifice autonomy, quality is essentially guaranteed.
I have to say, I typically choose the self-serve benefits of the first option. The truth is, I like to be in control. I like my autonomy and I typically enjoy setting my own schedule. I also like the challenge of finding the deals and booking the trip on my own. However, if I'm honest, I will have to admit that this approach hasn't always worked well for me. One time I booked a cottage in the woods of Maine that looked beautiful on the internet. It turned out to be a fishing and hunting cottage with no heat and plywood on the walls! Another time, I booked a trip to a Caribbean Island resort only to discover on arrival that it had been damaged by a storm and all the amenities were closed for repairs! But even in spite of these dismal failures, for some reason, I continue to keep self-booking.
While self-booking is clearly an approach for vacation trips, I think it is also an approach many of us choose in living our lives. We want to be in control. We set our plans in stone and we move out autonomously down the path we want to take. Never mind that we only have limited experience to make assumptions about our life and we don't have a clue about the future. We know what's best for us, and we are confident in our choices.
But like the ruined vacation, sometimes things just don't go as we plan. A typical meeting invitation at work turns out to be a lay-off notice. A routine doctors visit discovers a malignant tumor. A simple argument ends a friendship. A stock market fluctuation destroys 30 years of retirement savings. None of these things were in the plan and we are left frustrated, angry and wondering where we went wrong.
But the Bible makes it very clear that the plans we make will never be sufficient. Only God has the expertise to guide and direct our lives:
"In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps..." -- Proverbs 16:9 (NIV)
He knows things about the future, about ourselves that are not available to anyone. Not only that, but God has designed a plan specifically for your life that is complete in every way! All you have to do is book your life trip through him.
"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. 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. I will be found by you.." -- Jeremiah 29:11-14 (NIV)
God will take care of all the details and no matter what happens along the way, He is reachable to help you deal with any and all issues 24/7! No agent cares more or is more serving to your needs. But as with booking through any expert, there is a cost... nothing less than sacrificing your life to Him. Jesus explained it this way:
"Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You're not in the driver's seat; I am. Don't run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I'll show you how. Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to finding yourself, your true self. What kind of deal is it to get everything you want but lose yourself? What could you ever trade your soul for?" - Matthew 16:24-26 (MSG)
So, what approach are you choosing in how you book your life journey. Self-Booking or Booking with THE EXPERT? "God Tours"... it's the only way to go. Book today!
Jill Cohen
Vice President, Kohath Ministries, Inc.
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