All of us in this room are on a spectrum between being a planner and spontaneous. In some areas of our lives we are highly organized and detail-oriented; while in others we are a bit more flexible and open to change. While none of us would land all the way to the right or left between those two distinct categories – between planning and spontaneity – we do tend to lean more towards one side than the other.

So I have a question for all of you who would say that more often than not that you are a planner. I’m going to test how much of a planner you are; or what type of planner you are. I’m not even going to ask the spontaneous people this question because they don’t care to think about this stuff – they expect you to think about it.

So planners, are you ready? I need full participation. Here’s the question: Do you have an emergency kit at home? Like an earthquake kit or anything else like that? No judgment if you don’t. I don’t. Ben Lee (Lindsey’s husband) is my survival plan. It doesn’t matter what may come – it could be a zombie apocalypse – my plan is to make it to his house. I’ve told him this already; so I hope he’s prepared to keep eight of us alive (not just his four, but my four too). And now that the whole church knows Ben Lee’s skill set, he may need to plan for a few more.

Now, some of you may have been surprised by my question. You probably thought that I was going to ask if you have your next vacation planned or a ten year plan for your life. But those are Pastor Ben type questions. He’s a ‘cup half-full’ guy (or more like a cup overflowing kind of guy). I don’t know what I am. But what I want to know today is: Do you have a plan for when tragedy strikes? Are you spiritually prepared – do you have your kit ready– for when that emergency comes? Because it’s going to come – if it’s not already here.

Jesus once said, "In this world you will have trouble…" (John 16:33b). Can I be honest? I wish Jesus had never said that. I wish Jesus would have said something like, If you follow me, you will never have any troubles. But he didn’t. Trouble has or will reach all of us. What then? If in this world we will have trouble – meaning, we will face pain and suffering – what is our pain plan? What is our plan for when trouble comes?

There is quote by a Greek Stoic philosopher, Epictetus, who lived in the early second century, he says this: "It's not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters." -Epictetus. Some have paraphrased, or reworked, that quote to say, “Life is 10% what happens to you, and 90% how you react to it.” Now, you may or may not agree with that. Like, obviously, what happens to you is really important. But some (or a lot) of what happens to us is out of our control. But our preparedness, or our reactions to what happens to us, that is within our control – and it’s super important. And so I bring up these quotes because my concern is that most of us are leaving our reactions (to the trouble that comes our way) up to our improv skills – up to how we spontaneously react in the moment. But that’s not a plan. And there’s a better way.

A few months ago we shared that Joseph Barkley – a friend of our church; who has preached here before and will be coming to teach again this summer – we shared how he and his family lost their home during the L.A. fires. He recently wrote about losing his home in a blog and posted a picture of where his home was. Talk about trouble!

The focus of the blog wasn’t the fire and the devastation surrounding that. But he wanted to get this point across: It is important to prepare for difficult seasons during seasons of relative ease. While he did not deny that what they are facing is challenging, he acknowledged that they are reaping what they had sown in prior seasons. He expressed this confidence in being able to endure and of emerging stronger from this tragedy because their investments and habits prior to this had prepared them.

Let me just give you one line of his from the blog: "Choose in comfort what will serve you in crisis." -Joseph King Barkley. That’s what I want to help us do today. If you find yourself in a season of relative ease, I want to encourage you to choose (prepare yourself) for what will serve you later when crisis comes – because it will come.

But I know that as far as being in a season of relative ease, that’s not most of us. For many of us, crisis has already come – we are in the middle of it; or at the start of it. What are we to do if we feel totally unprepared and unable to deal with what we are facing? Are we out of luck? No. There’s hope. There’s a plan that we can put into place right now that will help us get through whatever it is that we are facing. It won’t be easy. But there is a God who is with us that wants to see us through.

And so, to help us with that, I want us to turn back to the Apostle Paul. Pastor Ben covered him last week. This is like an extension of Pastor Ben’s message last week; which I highly recommend you check out if you missed it. Ben gave us some practical ways to face impossible situations. I’m going to mention a few of those and add some of my own.

2 Corinthians 4:8, 16-17

8 We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. …

16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.

Let me start here, with verse 16. The goal of having a plan for when trouble comes is to not lose heart. Paul says, “We do not lose heart – despite all of the challenges we are facing.” Jesus, when he said “In this world you will have trouble,” look at what he says immediately after that: “In this world you will have trouble. But [what?] take heart! Take courage. Be strengthened. Don’t give up. Why? Because I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33b)

We do not have a plan so that our troubles will come to an end. We have very little to no control over when that happens. But we have a plan so that we are better able to keep our eyes on Jesus and persevere. We need sustaining power that can only come from Jesus. Too often I see people giving up midway. They have a crisis of faith because of the crisis they are facing; and they give up because they lose sight of Him.

So how do we avoid that? Well, for starters, we have to REFRAME OUR EXPECTATIONS. Our plan starts with our thinking. It starts with the mind. I’m going to spend on this one because we have to reframe our expectations in at least three ways. First, 1) We need to reframe our expectations of the trials themselves. Here’s what I mean by that. This is not everyone, but throughout my faith journey there are times that  I have struggled with thinking that the reason I’m going through a difficulty is because I did something wrong. I see the trouble in my life as punishment. (Anyone?) And that may be true in certain instances. But most of the time I just need to remind myself of Jesus’ words, that simply for the very fact that I am in this broken world I will have trouble.

Paul didn’t view his trials as punishment. When he says that he is hard pressed on every side, perplexed, persecuted, and struck down, he’s not thinking of anything wrong he did. He’s saying, I’m dealing with this stuff because I’m sharing the message of Jesus – I’m doing something good. Here’s something we all need to remember: Suffering is not necessarily a result of disobedience to Jesus. Rather it may be a result of following him. Let’s reframe (rethink) why trials come into our lives.

Secondly, 2) We need to reframe our expectations of God. I just shared how I at times blame myself for my trials. Others of you do the opposite, you blame God. Over the years I have seen a number of people grow disappointed in God because of the problems they are facing. Here’s a definition for disappointment. Disappointment comes when there is a gap between our expectations and reality. So of course we are going to be disappointed in God if we believe that he is going to keep us from ALL harm; but then that doesn’t turn out to be true!

But God never promised us a life of comfort and ease. He promised to be with us and see us through whatever we face. The Psalmist says, The righteous person may have many troubles, but the Lord delivers them from them all. (Psalm 34:19) That’s the promise. You can set your expectation that he will deliver you. When? I don’t know. How? I don’t know. But he will.

Lastly, 3) We need to reframe our ability to cope and get through trials. I wouldn’t describe myself as an anxious person. But there have been certain challenges in my life that left me feeling crippled with fear. It was an unhealthy fear because it was disproportionate to the danger that I actually faced. I realized that in those moments I was catastrophizing. To catastrophize is to overestimate the danger or severity of the situation, and to underestimate my ability to cope.

Paul avoided doing that. In fact, he did the opposite. Verse 17 tells us that rather than overestimating the danger of his troubles, Paul saw them as light and momentary. Verse 16 tells us that rather than feeling like he couldn’t cope, despite the challenges he felt like he was being renewed and strengthened from within everyday.

But that’s not how most of us see our trials. We have to be able to admit that sometimes we can make a mountain out of a molehill. Now with that said, hear what I’m not saying. I’m not saying that we should be unphased by our problems. I’m not saying that what you are dealing with is small. I’m not trying to minimize your pain. I’m just trying to tell you that you are stronger than you think – because you have a God that is with you that is stronger than you think. “What is impossible with man is possible with God.” (Luke 18:27) But sometimes we just lose perspective. Which leads us to the next key piece of the plan.

So we need to reframe our expectations. But also, whether we are in a difficult season or a season of ease, we have to PRACTICE GRATITUDE. Here’s the thing, in a season of ease gratitude will keep you humble; and in a season of trouble gratitude will keep you hopeful. We need to practice gratitude regardless of the season. In a difficult season you need to thank God for the blessings and the good that is present in your life; and you need to find the silver lining in the midst of your problems.

That’s what Paul is doing when he says, "We are hard pressed on every side, BUT not crushed; perplexed, BUT not in despair; persecuted, BUT not abandoned; struck down, BUT not destroyed." (vv.8-9). He’s admitting that things are difficult; but he’s thankful to God because he hasn’t reached a breaking point. Either God is strengthening him to be able to handle more; or like we see in the story of Job, God is not allowing the enemy to go beyond a certain limit. And you can expect the same. And we should be grateful for that.

Another thing we ought to do as part of our plan – in addition to reframing our expectations and gratitude – is PRAY. Let me give you a line from Paul that connects praying for our troubles with gratitude. "Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." (Philippians 4:6). It is so important to keep an open line of communication with God. Now, that is true all of the time. But I would say that, at least for me, it becomes more difficult to pray when I find myself anxious about a situation.

Here’s why I believe that’s the case. Because by the time my anxiety has reached a high level, I have already lost sight of God. I’m anxious because I feel like I’m alone in the situation and I have no idea how I’m going to get out of it.

But to counter that, I have memorized Philippians 4:6 because it’s a reminder to me to come back to God. It’s a reminder that I’m not alone in having to work through whatever it is I’m facing. And when I express gratitude in those prayer moments, it’s a reminder to myself that God is good and that he’s capable of dealing with this because I’ve seen him deal with other situations. Prayer and gratitude gets our eyes off of the problem and onto the solution. And by solution I don’t mean that your problem will go away – although that is possible. But it could just mean the promise of Philippians 4:7 coming into my life: "And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:7). And the peace of God is a peace that surpasses understanding.

Here’s the last part of the plan, and then we will close: INVEST IN RELATIONSHIPS. I love how Paul says “WE are hard pressed… WE do not lose heart!” Paul was not living in isolation. He had a community of people that was in it with him. He was there for them; and they were there for him.

Today, I have shared some of my own struggles with facing difficult seasons and how at times my faith can waver. But what’s crazy is that even when I’m in the middle of a storm in my life, I can sit down and talk to you about your problems and full of faith and confidence encourage you and pray for you. Like a lot of things, sometimes it’s easier to believe things for others than it is to believe it for ourselves. That is why we need each other. God created us in such a way that we would be dependent on each other.

So as we close, let’s put what we have learned into practice. Some of you may find yourself in a season of ease, which is great – we’re not jealous. But that’s not most of us. So I want us to pray. Our prayer leaders are going to be up here. They are the WE in our plan. They are going to come before God and believe with you for the trouble in your life to end – and for it to end today. And wherever that is not possible, the prayer is for you to take heart and have the strength to endure.

While we are praying our worship team is going to be praising and thanking God for his goodness. Church, the atmosphere is set for God to move and for you to be blessed by him. Let’s reframe our expectations. We are not going to blame ourselves or God. But we are going to believe that God can deliver us – that he is greater than our problems. Let’s respond.