Introducing Kyle Kupecky… and a Look at God’s “Plans”

Karen Kingsbury, #1 New York Times Bestselling Author, writes about Kyle Kupecky… and a Look at God’s “Plans”:

On Oct. 2, as Kyle Kupecky’s first single, “Plans,” hit radio stations across the country, the words hit me a little differently than they hit you. You hear his song and think, “Yes! I love this…no matter what I’m going through, God has great plans for me!”

You’re right.

But I think of a sun-drenched Mexican beach, Aug. 1, 1988.

It was the last day of our honeymoon, and my husband took my hand and smiled, “I have an idea,” he said. And he led me to the water, as close as we could get to the shore. The blue sky stretched overhead and we sat, side by side.

He turned to me, his eyes full. “Let’s pray for the family we might have. The kids God might give us, their spouses and children. Let’s dedicate to the Lord all that might come after this moment.”

Tears filled my eyes because I had just given my life to a man who so deeply believed in God and His Word and His plans not only for our lives but for the lives of our children. So we linked hands and hearts and prayed. We asked for the Lord’s blessing and direction, His wisdom and timing, His mercy and grace over our kids and their spouses and families…however far off.

I can still feel the sun on our shoulders, still hear my husband’s 20-something voice mixing with the breeze off the ocean. The prayer is still fresh in my heart. It seemed all of heaven stood front-row to the cries of our souls that day. The Mexican sand became holy ground. The thought even occurred to me, We won’t know until decades from now the power of this single prayer.

Indeed.

Talk about God’s plans.

We flew back to Los Angeles and began our married life together. I was a reporter for the Los Angeles Daily News and Don was a teacher and basketball coach. We lived in a garage. Literally. Money was scarce, but we were rich with laughter and long walks together. We taught first-grade Sunday school, and late at night Don played his guitar and we sang “Great Adventure” by Steven Curtis Chapman.

Six months later — despite our own plans — I was pregnant with our first child. The landlord told us we would need to move. We had no idea how we were going to make ends meet, but Don took my hand, his eyes bright with hope. “I have an idea,” he said.

He led me outside beneath the Southern California sky. “Let’s pray you can write at home, so you can be with our baby.”

Nine months later — against all logic and reason — I had a book deal. I quit my job, and I’ve been home writing ever since. Just like we prayed. Because God’s plans don’t have to make sense.

We prayed when Kelsey was born, believing in the good plans God had for her. We prayed for her future impact on this world and for her future spouse. Kelsey’s five brothers rounded out our family in the years to come, including three adopted from Haiti. We talked to God about all of our kids. Constantly. We still do.

When you listen to Kyle Kupecky’s “Plans,” just know that I think about something more than that distant Mexican beach. As the song plays I see myself next to my husband praying in the shadow of Kelsey’s crib, and I see us sitting on either side of her bed listening to her pray when she was two and four and the night before her first day of Kindergarten.

I see her heading out the door to middle school, and I remember begging God to keep her safe and protect her heart.

When Kyle’s song plays on the radio, I see the summer sun glistening off the Columbia River in the Pacific Northwest on the evening of Kelsey’s 13th birthday, the night she signed a purity contract, promising to save herself for her future husband. I remember holding her in my arms while she cried when she wasn’t asked to the senior prom because she was sticking to her promise.

I am surrounded by memories of late-night talks and Kelsey and I agreeing that God had great plans for her life…and that there was no time like the present to pray for her future husband.

Wherever he might be.

I remember a MercyMe concert in Portland and Bart Millard and the band’s manager Scott Brickell asking our family to come hang out; and I see Kelsey running down the stairs minutes before we left, changing her mind and deciding to attend the show.

And yes, I see Kelsey meeting Kyle Kupecky in the catering room, him the opening act for the Rock and Worship Roadshow. And I remember the look in Kyle’s eyes as they spoke, and I recall thinking no one had ever looked at her that way before.

Finally, when I turn on the radio and hear Kyle singing “Plans,” I see him not as he looks on stage shining for Jesus at his recent show opening for Danny Gokey. I will see him standing at the front of the church, tears in his eyes, as our precious only daughter Kelsey walked down the aisle.

Yes. Kyle Kupecky was the one we had prayed for.

When he was a grade-school kid singing in choir and on the fall of his 13th year when he wrote a letter to his future wife promising to stay pure for her. As he kept the letter in his bedside table and the promise in his heart every year after that. Kyle was indeed the young man we had prayed for in the days before that concert in Portland. All the way back to that sunny honeymoon beach and a prayer we prayed for our kids and their future spouses.

I remember that day because it was on that day — at that very hour — 3,000 miles away in Pennsylvania, that Kyle Kupecky was born.

Now, when you listen to “Plans,” you’ll have something else to think about.

Because now you know…the story behind the song.

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