My day’s schedule was all arranged. My wife, kids and I were taking a trip to North Carolina to visit a good friend in the hosptial. Before I could make the trip, I had several deadlines, and a few appointments to meet. Since our older two kids had to be at the office at 6:00 a.m. Thursday to leave on the youth trip to Six Flags, I took that as an opportunity to get an early start on my day.

While driving to the office, I sipped coffee from my special travel mug and mentally organized the tasks I would perform. Becoming increasingly pleased with my plans, I felt confident that reality would completely correspond to my mental images. But, when I got to the office, our Youth Minister gave me the sickening news—our power was off. It appeared that all other offices had power but ours. After I did my own electrical investigation, and found no apparent problem, I made the call to Alabama Power.

“Now what should I do,” I wondered. With no computer, no lights, and too early to make any calls, I was stuck. I admit, I was becoming annoyed and mentally agitated. Needless to say, my enthusiasm for the day plummeted. Since our reception area had a wall of windows, enough natural light spilled into the room to allow for some reading. So, in the dimly lit room, I opened my bible to James and began reading.

It was hard to keep mentally engaged as I constantly glanced through the windows, praying to see an Alabama Power vehicle drive up. As my eyes flashed from the text to the parking lot and back, the verse arrested my attention: “Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.’ Why, you don’t even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that’” (4:13-15).

I literally laughed out loud at myself. I had planned out the day very well, but I had no power (literally) to carry them out. I was reminded of several things. First, we really have very little control over our circumstances. Second, our very lives—and plans—are in God’s care, not ours. Third, when our beautifully-crafted plans fail, that puts us, maybe even forces us, into the position of self-examination. Finally, and upon such self-examination, our sense of self-importance is put into proper perspective when we realize that our lives are like a “wisp of fog, catching a brief bit of sun before disappearing” (The Message). The next time you experience a power outage, think about the meaning—and true Source—of your life.