Planned Long Ago

 

Fort Payne High School National Honor Society 1973-74
(Front Row: I'm first on left, Karen is last on right)

"O LORD, I will honor and praise Your name, for You are my God. You do such wonderful things! You planned them long ago, and now You have accomplished them." (Isaiah 25:1)

As I said yesterday, I'm working on next year's children's book: The Window at Willow Springs, a story around a secret room in my friend Karen's house in Fort Payne, Alabama. In the narrative, I connected James Ralph Johnson to the imagination piece of the storyline.

James Ralph Johnson was born in Fort Payne in 1922 and was a year behind my daddy at DeKalb County High School. After retiring from a prestigious military career as a major in the United States Marine Corps, he became an accomplished author and western artist.

Because of a term paper on a famous author assignment my junior year of high school, I have handwritten letters from Mr. Johnson as well as an autographed copy of his survival book Anyone Can Live Off the Land, both of which have served the book-in-the-making well.

To some it may appear coincidental that the English teacher who assigned the term paper just so happens to be the aunt of my friend Karen, whose family owned Willow Springs. To me, it's providential — planned by God long ago and now accomplished.

Every intricate detail of your life, beloved, has potential in the hands of our wondrous, all-powerful, all-knowing God. Put your trust and hope in Him!