While doing my morning run on the treadmill, I felt relaxed. I knew it was race registration day, but I wasn’t overly concerned about it. I’d registered for several runDisney races before and knew how it worked: go to the website at the right time, get in the online virtual queue, wait your turn, and register. Some races sell out on registration day, but I’d always been successful in getting registered. Why should today be any different?
After my workout, it was almost time. I grabbed my laptop and went through the process I’d successfully followed in the past. Once the queue opened, my screen told me the wait would be over an hour. No problem. I’d seen that message many times before. It starts high and then slowly counts down.
Except this time it didn’t.
I waited and waited. My screen stayed the same. Suddenly, a message popped up saying one of the races had sold out. Uh-oh. Thankfully, it wasn’t the registration I wanted, but a small twinge of worry crept in.
My plan was to sign up for the challenge, which meant running two races on consecutive mornings: a 10K one day and a half marathon the next. It would’ve been my first time attempting one of these challenges, and I was really looking forward to it.
A few minutes later, that plan vanished. The challenge had sold out.
That stung, but my predicted wait time finally started to drop, so I stayed in the queue. I could still register for just the half marathon. It’s not what I wanted, but it would be fine.
Except it wasn’t.
A few minutes later, that race sold out too.
All that remained was the 5K. Better than nothing, I thought. I kept waiting.
Then that sold out as well.
I sat there staring at my screen in disbelief. The possibility of not getting into any race hadn’t even crossed my mind. In fact, I’d already done some travel hacking to secure a hotel stay for that weekend and had begun researching flights. My plans were in motion.
I just needed the registration.
Yet I didn’t get it.
Sometimes you don’t get what you want. Perhaps more often than we’d like to admit. You can plan and prepare all you want, but that doesn’t matter if God has other plans. Despite our best efforts, sometimes He responds with “no” or “not yet.”
Jeremiah 29:11 begins with “For I know the plans I have for you.” He’s the one holding the plans. The verse continues, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
Those words sound comforting, but trusting plans I can’t see or understand isn’t always easy.
Still, I sometimes wonder if knowing the whole story ahead of time would really make life easier. If I’d been told about the pain, hardships, and losses I’d experience in my life, would I have believed there could still be joy? If I could have seen the entire road stretching out before me, would I have had the courage to walk it?
Perhaps there’s a reason God reveals life one step at a time.
If we saw every steep hill, every unexpected detour, and every difficult mile waiting ahead, we might hesitate to begin the journey at all. Instead, God gently places the next step in front of us and asks us to trust Him with the rest.
I didn’t get the race I planned for that morning, but maybe the lesson was more valuable than the registration. Besides, Lord willing, there will be other opportunities.
Life isn’t meant to be lived with the whole map laid out before us. It’s meant to be lived with faith in the One who already sees the entire course.
And thankfully, He knows the way.
