What do you do when your dreams are shattered? What do you do when your life isn't turning out the way you thought? What to do you do when you have to turn to Plan B? Those are the questions posed on the jacket of Pete Wilson's new book "Plan B".
Pete Wilson is the pastor of Cross Point Church in Nashville. All his years of experience counseling people, walking with them through their darkest moments, and trying to answer questions about why God allows certain things to happen have led him to write this book.
A Plan B life is the life that isn't working out according to our plans. It's the life where cancer shows up, where we lose our job, where our finances dry up, where the marriage ends. The Bible is full of Plan B stories. Joseph has a dream about being a ruler, only to find himself in a pit and sold into slavery by his own brothers. But then he finds himself in power in Egypt, only to again be thrown into prison and seemingly forgotten. David is anointed as king, and then spends the next several years of his life running for his life and hiding out in caves.
Pete Wilson does an incredible job walking us through the difficulty of the Plan B. What I love about it the most is that it is really birthed out of a pastor's heart, with years of experience. It's honest, raw, and doesn't try to sugar coat anything. He readily admits that we don't always have the answers, we may never know "why" things happen.
Pete's conclusion is that Plan B situations have the potential to change us into something greater. Some people choose to grow through their Plan B, and some people don't. Pain and suffering and heartache and disappointment are the catalysts for growth in our lives. There's a great quotation from C.S. Lewis here that says "God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks to us in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world." If you are a follower of Jesus, you can probably attest to the fact that it's in the most difficult times of your life that you lean the most into God. You read the bible more, you pray more, you seek him more.
The message of this book is very hopeful. The fact is, your Plan B is not the end of the story. It's not. For many, they give up too easily, they are ready to quit on the idea that things could ever get better. But your Plan B is not the last word. There is still more story to tell. Stick through it. Allow the situation to change you, to mold you, and to break you if need be. On the other side is something beautiful.
For more information about "Plan B" check out the website at http://www.planbbook.com.
(Thomas Nelson provided me with a free copy of Plan B for my review.)
