It’s time for Five Minute Friday — the writing exercise I join weekly with a hundred plus virtual friends. You really have to see what they come up with. Just stop in at Kate’s place (http://katemotaung.com/2015/03/12/five-minute-friday-plan/).

The task is to take a weekly prompt and run with it for five minutes. We just let the mind ponder on the words and the fingers pound them out. It’s not a contest to see who writes the most or has the most insight. It’s an exercise to keep our minds sharp and our fingers nimble.

So, here goes. This week’s prompt is PLAN. The timer is set and off we GO …

The prompt is far from my strong suit. In fact, I don’t really plan. I’m more of a seat-of-your-pants kind of guy.

That doesn’t mean I don’t have goals. It just means I don’t dwell on pesky little benchmarks like details. I would rather adapt to the situation as it unfolds.

My wife was a planner. She would spend days, weeks, months, years making lists and checking them twice, only to be disheartened when the hue of the carnations didn’t quite match her expectations. I didn’t care if they were red, pink or white or even if they were carnations. What’s wrong with daffodils?

Like I said I do have general goals. I guess you could call it a plan. I know what result I want and I work toward that result. Sometimes, my procrastination is part of that plan and I get to see the big picture as it gets closer to crunch time. Other times it’s the lessons in distractions that help frame the big picture and bring it into focus

It’s sort of like that in my faith walk as well. I know … STOP

… the goal and I keep working toward it. But I don’t get bogged down by the rhetoric. I mean, if the gospel writers, for example, can’t agree on exactly what Jesus said — those pesky red letters or quotes — it really doesn’t matter what He said. The important point is the message (lesson) He was trying to convey. Don’t tell me, show me.

Heresy, I know. But I believe in the end, when we’re standing at the Throne Room, there will be just one question. “Did you know My Son?”

That’s my plan of salvation, an affirmative “Yes. He was my best friend.” Not because of what He said, but because of what He did. He befriended the friendless and outcasts … He hobnobbed with the disenfranchised … As a carpenter by trade, He built the bridge from this realm to the next … He gave up His life for me … He taught me how to love.

In the meantime, I know I am going to fail a time or two (or thousand), I am going to ignore Jesus from time to time and call Him incessantly at other times, my faith will ebb and flow and be challenged. But, like a best friend, all I have to do is call and I know He’ll be there.

Well, that’s what came into the noggin this time around.

THOUGHT TO REMEMBER: I am just a sinner … saved by grace … loved enough to be set free … given courage and strength and perseverance to wake up tomorrow and try to love all over again.