When I first ran track in prep school, my coach invited me to his home for dinner one night. After the meal, he pulled out a notebook displaying my name on the front cover. He immediately turned to the back page, which bore the heading "June 1957"—three and a half years away.

"Gordon," he said. "These are the races I'm going to schedule you to run almost four years from now. Here are the times you will achieve."

I looked at those times. Impossible! They were light years away from where I was at that moment as a runner.

Then Coach began turning back the pages of that book, page by page, showing the 42 months he had scheduled for workouts. These were the graduated, accelerated plans for my increasing skill on the track as the months and years would go by. He had a sense of direction and development when it came to my athletic growth.

Coaches and leaders of all kinds understand the absolute necessity of strategic, long-range planning. Similarly, a wise and all-knowing God has a plan for our total lives—gradually, inevitably, down through the years, we become more like Jesus.