Stories from the Ground: We Make Our Plans

Written By: John Jefferson

“We make our plans, but the Lord orders our steps”. Prov. 16:9

Did you ever try to plan out what you were going to do when you got to the amusement park as a kid excitedly the night before family vacation?  How you were going to go on this ride first, then that one, go and grab this kind of snack, then run off to such and such a place while you eat it, etc.  Of course the calculations didn’t include hitting the ceiling on your parent’s budget prematurely, ride closures, extra-long lines, little brother having to go to the bathroom, getting lost, or a myriad of other things that caused disruption.  In the end, the bigger plan of you getting to the park and having a good time, the one your parent’s probably had all along, was the only one that got fulfilled, and them keeping you away from consuming all the junk food you could and going on rides that would cause you to prematurely divest of that food or keep you up all night in terror was the only thing that ensured you would indeed enjoy it.

“Planning” this trip was a little like that.  We had to first dream about getting food to an isolated part of the world under conditions that were less than optimal in terms of security (i.e. entering a war zone).  

This was complicated by fact that seasonal rains were set to begin soon, and funds needed to be raised to even talk about taking action to help those at risk of starvation.  Despite these obstacles, a practical, implementable and executable plan had to be developed quickly in order to raise funds, then begin to take the steps necessary to fulfill the mission.  On our first conference call we established that we needed a clear plan and purpose to our mission, including a target population to serve.  There was some vacillation due to the constantly changing conditions on the ground and information about what was and wasn’t possible.  Through all the iterations involving different modes of transportation and scenarios, it was determined we would do whatever it took to get as much food as possible to the people in need, by whatever means available.

The stages of the plan became clear: 

• Procure transportation to the destination, or at least the promise of it.  
• Identify food types (we settled on nutritive supplements and foodstuffs), quantity, and sources. 
• Raise necessary funds to buy and transport food.  
• Assemble a team to take the food to the destination, and one with local contacts that could help distribute it to those in the greatest need.  
• Finally, set the date for the mission, purchase the food and transportation, and prepare for takeoff.  

Along the way a million discouragements and changes of plan took place before even setting out, and the timing of the team departure and corresponding delivery of the food to our jumping off point was in jeopardy upon leaving the States.  Nevertheless, we had a plan, and even a backup plan, and knew that our steps were being ordered in spite of those plans.  

This became more and more evident as we proceeded. (Interesting things like we left in the midst of the rainy season and heavy rains that had fallen even two weeks before our departure dried up almost completely the week before we got there…we certainly encountered mud, but mostly walked on dry ground and never saw significant rainfall)

When we finally arrived at our destination in the Nuba Mountains, we had procured ½ a ton of grain despite our original shipment not making it in time, traveled tens of miles through rough terrain with various modes of transportation despite having trucks get bogged down, vehicles run out of gas, and being unable to acquire a single mode that could take passengers and cargo uninterrupted from start to finish, and arrived safely in a place that was purportedly inaccessible despite the threat of aerial bombardment, government militias, and hostile environmental forces.  

Having done so, we divided the food we had, and closely followed the direction of local leaders, who brought us to families in need.  Families holed up in dens and caves in the earth.  Families eating unripened grain, harvested early to keep from starving.  Families with members too weak to flee the threat of war, but too afraid to stay where they were.  Desperate families with children whose hair has turned red from malnutrition, and whose clothes and patience were wearing thin waiting on the world community to do something.  Our plan was to get to these people to give them food, give them hope, and let them know their waiting wasn’t in vain.  

As I sat at the foot of the mountains that first evening we arrived and marveled at how we arrived in that forsaken place, contrasted with its utter beauty and deceiving serenity, I realized that it wasn’t any plan of our making alone that got us to that point.  It had too many holes and inconsistencies to accomplish so great a task and include so many helpful people we had no idea existed.  Indeed, it was as if every step we took was ordered so that we would not falter.

“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them”.  Eph. 2:10