{"id":159,"date":"2011-04-25T02:13:44","date_gmt":"2011-04-25T06:13:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/fearofwhales\/?p=159"},"modified":"2011-04-26T12:54:44","modified_gmt":"2011-04-26T16:54:44","slug":"god-loves-you-and-has-a-wonderful-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fearofwhales\/2011\/04\/god-loves-you-and-has-a-wonderful-plan.html","title":{"rendered":"God loves you and has a wonderful plan"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
How long have you been a Christian?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I suspect you are a Christian. You have probably been a\u00a0believer for quite some time – 10 to 15 years at least.<\/p>\n

Do you\u00a0have to have called yourself a Christian for that long in order to\u00a0want\u00a0to read about missionaries? About a missionary challenging all sorts of preconceptions? I think so.\u00a0Otherwise you would just read Squire Rushnell<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I suspect\u00a0that you were either converted in the 1970s-1990s or else you were pretty much born into Christianity.<\/p>\n

Did you\u00a0learn to evangelize during that time?<\/p>\n

Were you taught that the essential truth of the Gospel can be summed up in the simple phrase:<\/p>\n

“God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life”<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That’s a great line.\u00a0 Really is. I like it a lot.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Stephen was OK with God's plan for him<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There’s a problem though. You’ve been a Christian 10 or so years now.\u00a0\u00a0Uhh, what’s up with that “wonderful\u00a0plan”?<\/p>\n

You know, the wonderful plan that God has for you?<\/p>\n

The person that explained it to you assured you you there was a plan. You needed to accept jesus so it could happen.<\/p>\n

You said “Yes” to God’s plan! So, what did it turn out to be?<\/em><\/p>\n

Maybe you’ve been the person telling people that God loves them and … there it is again …\u00a0has\u00a0a plan for them. So, what is it? It’s not that they should go to heaven when they die, is it? That is a wonderful plan for their death. What are they supposed to do until then?<\/p>\n

Go around telling\u00a0other people that God loves them and has a wonderful plan for their lives?<\/em><\/p>\n

Doesn’t that seen kind of empty after a while? There must be a better answer somewhere.<\/p>\n

Comment me up! Come on, tell me what your plan is.<\/p>\n

I wanna know.<\/p>\n

<\/em><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
What does God have in mind for you?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

What plan does God have for you?<\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I suspect you are a Christian. You have probably been a\u00a0believer for quite some time – 10 to 15 years at least. Do you\u00a0have to have called yourself a Christian for that long in order to\u00a0want\u00a0to read about missionaries? About a missionary challenging all sorts of preconceptions? I think so.\u00a0Otherwise you would just read Squire…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":391,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,10],"tags":[7,9,6],"class_list":["post-159","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-conversation-starters","category-inspiration-2","tag-4-spiritual-laws","tag-inspiration","tag-wonderful-plan"],"yoast_head":"\nGod loves you and has a wonderful plan - A Fear of Whales<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fearofwhales\/2011\/04\/god-loves-you-and-has-a-wonderful-plan.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"God loves you and has a wonderful plan - A Fear of Whales\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I suspect you are a Christian. You have probably been a\u00a0believer for quite some time – 10 to 15 years at least. Do you\u00a0have to have called yourself a Christian for that long in order to\u00a0want\u00a0to read about missionaries? About a missionary challenging all sorts of preconceptions? I think so.\u00a0Otherwise you would just read Squire…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fearofwhales\/2011\/04\/god-loves-you-and-has-a-wonderful-plan.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"A Fear of Whales\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-04-25T06:13:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-04-26T16:54:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/fearofwhales\/files\/2011\/04\/martyr-painting-300x182.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"rgaffney\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"God loves you and has a wonderful plan - A Fear of Whales","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fearofwhales\/2011\/04\/god-loves-you-and-has-a-wonderful-plan.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"God loves you and has a wonderful plan - A Fear of Whales","og_description":"I suspect you are a Christian. 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