Out of Control in the New Year!

A dear friend is very organized. She is on-time, Blackberry calendar addicted, and she only wears ironed clothes. I tend to whirl around--coffee spilling as I drive, sneezing with wet hair, and leaving piles of organized chaos in my wake. If Anonymous Friend's name tag reads "Control Freak," mine reads, "Out-of-Control Freak." Despite all external factors, Anonymous Friend and I have a whole lot in common. In different ways, we both take a whole lot of steps to keep life under control. We both know what's in the food we eat. We both know how much is in our checking accounts. And we have our next coffee date marked on our calendars for three weeks after the time we last saw each other.

While I wheel around in my messy but ordered life, I feel like I have a good deal of control. The past four days have been a gentle reminder of the out-of-control nature of life. I was in Colorado celebrating Christmas and spending time with my sweetie's family. Sunday after church we decided to head to the mountains--only two hours from their Denver home--for some quick time with friends who were on a ski vacation. We took a quick glance at the roads on the Colorado Department of Transportation website. But there was no road! 60 mile an hour winds covered the roads with snow. All lanes were closed over Berthoud Pass. No mountains for us. Two days later, on New Year's Day, our vacation had come to an end. We were scheduled to leave Denver at 8:40am. At 6:40am, our flight was cancelled. The airline worker on the other end of the line said we were scheduled for another flight, four days later! Luckily, we were able to get back to Iowa only a day late. Our luggage didn't fare as well.

Closed roads, cancelled flights, missing luggage. A tension headache reminded me that I don't control everything. I'm curious about control. If I don't have it, does God? And what does that look like?