I went up to Georgia this past week to spend some time with my granma and papa and help 'em…

I went up to Georgia this past week to spend some time with my granma and papa and help 'em work on a few things.

The plan sounded simple enough. Fix up a trailer, get a couple broken jet skis running, and if everything went well, haul 'em back down to Florida.

Day one we spent the entire day at the dock trying to figure out why the jet skis would not stay running. They wanted to start so badly. Every time we thought we had it figured out they would sputter and die again. We tried everything we could think of until the sun finally went down. At that point we packed it up and decided we would try again in the morning. We still had a trailer to fix too.

Day two we turned our attention to the trailer. Compared to the jet skis it was a much easier fix, and by the time the sun was setting again we finally had that part working the way it should.

So we made a new plan. If we couldn’t get the jet skis running ourselves, we would call a tow company and bring 'em to a service shop.

The next morning we called the tow company around 8 a.m. They told us they wouldn’t know until noon if they could come get 'em.

My papa looked at me and said something simple that has stuck in my mind ever since.

He said, “We'll go ahead and drive down to the boat ramps and start getting everything ready.”

I asked him why, since we didn’t even know if the tow company was coming.

He just said, “Because we need to act like it’s going to happen either way.”

So we went down and got everything ready.

By noon we got the call. The company couldn’t tow 'em after all. In that sense, the trip ended in failure.

The jet skis never left the dock. (YET).

But I still came home with something far more valuable than a couple running machines.

I came home with a lesson in faith.

Act like it’s going to happen.

It reminded me of the saying:

Pray like it’s all up to God.
Work like it’s all up to you.

Sometimes the outcome isn’t what you expected. Actually, I'll bet more oft than not, the outcome isn't what you expect. But the mindset you carry with you is the real win.

And that’s something my papa has clearly mastered.