"Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;

in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight" - Proverbs 3:5-6

The traffic was awful. There was rain in the air, it was getting dark and people had just left one traffic jam to be faced with another. I noticed the big red bus just outside my lane and saw the strap line for the film ‘Deepwater Horizon’ – “When faced with our darkest hour, hope is not a tactic”.

 I can almost imagine the bosses of Samsung struggling to cope with not just one disaster but two of them. The shareholders meeting will be a very interesting occasion. I can imagine that technical heads will roll.

SmartStewards are the kind of people who are Christians right down to their little cotton socks, but that doesn’t mean that they rely on hope. They may well hope, but they don’t rely on hope as their prime resource.

 I love the way that my friends, when in the deepest, darkest pile of financial mess that I could possibly imagine found themselves reading books and having long deep discussions after earnest prayers. They had reached the bottom floor, but even then did not simply rely on hope alone, though they had little else to rely on.

Their sole tangible resource was that God would. They were probably not sure what God would do, but they knew God would. As it turns out the original SmartStewards found a book that gave them a plan that they liked the look of. They had no reason to trust the books advice, nor a particular reason to follow the advice, but they had worked out that anything else they might try would only dig them deeper into the mire.

A blogger, Karen Evans, Managing Director for the Asia Pacific region at Acendre wrote this encouraging companies to plan ahead but also to have patience. “Good things come to those who wait, so the next time you find yourself under pressure and needing to fill a critical role, take a step back to gain a holistic view of the situation. Sacrifices in the short term will pay off in the long run, through new hires who are committed, engaged and ready to align their professional goals to those of their new organisation.”

Turn this into good Christian practice, make a plan, realise that the plan may take some time to fulfil, know that good things will come to us as we wait for the blessed hope. Know that with God a thousand years is a blip on His timeline. Know then too that God is looking after us.

 Take this advice from a sign on the side of a bus. Find your solution before the disaster strikes. Have a plan for your life that is written down, logical, backed by God and confirmed by the good advice of your friends and your family. Then, no matter the disaster, you can then have hope.

"Help is on the Way" - Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver perform today's music - thanks Bryn.  Click on the picture to listen.