I had big plans for this past weekend.  I'm working out of town, so I was scheduled to fly in late Friday night, and spend Saturday and Sunday with my wife before fying back out again on Monday morning.  Not only that, but I was scheduled to direct the worship for both morning and evening services at church Sunday.  Our regular leader is out of town, and there would be no one else...  I'm sure you get the drift.  It was a big deal to me to get home for the weekend.

Friday morning I went to check in for my flight from LaGuardia in New York to Pellston and found the New York - Detroit portion had been canceled.  Ever the optomist, I called and rebooked it out of Philadelphia for later that evening.  It looked on the weather map that Philly was going to miss most of the junk, and just get rain.  I had to call and change my rental car to return it to Philly rather than LaGuardia - not a big deal.

Late in the morning I took off for Philly.  That's when I realized I could be in jeopardy.  Traffic was a nightmare.  There are too many cars out here on the east coast to deal with snow and ice effectively.  Everybody just shuts down.  I finally made it to NJ after a six-hour drive (should have been just over two) and called to verify that my flight was still good from Philly - Detroit.  Nope.  Canceled again.  This time, there was no rebooking.  The agent told me I couldn't get out of Philly for three days.  "Baltimore?"  "No, sir."  "New York?"  "No, sir."  "Anywhere?"  "Well, I could get you out of Pittsburgh Sunday afternoon."  "OK - just cancel my flight and process a refund.  I do get a refund, right?"  "Yes, sir."

Now all I had to do was find a place to stay and something to do.  Fortunately, my son and his wife live in southern New Jersey.  I called to find out their dinner plans for Friday, and they invited me to stay the weekend with them.  (YES!)

I still missed my wife for the weekend, and missed the opportunity to worship with my church family, but they found somebody else to lead their worship and did quite well without me.  Instead, I took the opportunity to enjoy the weekend with my son and daughter-in-law, worship with them on Sunday, and relax. 

It was quite fortuitous, actually.  Pastor Gelatt has just completed a series on "What on earth is the church?", leading us to the conclusion that we, the people, are the church, not the building or programs.  Here I am, 800 miles or more from home, evangelistically speaking, and the Cherub Choir sings "We Are the Church", echoing in three short verses what it took Pastor Gelatt six weeks to say, and they were a lot cuter to boot.

Sometimes, the best laid plans can get thrown aside for something even better!  Isn't it great?