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Frank Marshall had never felt so confused or helpless in his entire life. He sat in his car, in his private parking space before the corporate office of the company he had singlehandedly built. But the sight of his professional domain failed to comfort him, as it always had before. All that he had worked so hard for was crashing down around him, and, for the first time in his life, he was at a loss as to how to stop it.

Now, Frank had always had a thing about control. He knew when he was in grade school what he wanted to do with his life. By the time he was in college, majoring in business as he had planned, he had decided exactly what type of girl he wanted for his wife. He hadn't settled for anything less, pursuing the different young women he met until he found just the one he was looking for. Then young Frank had dated, wooed and won Marian, but insisted on a long engagement so that he could finish college and establish himself in business. In that way, he had provided her with the home, income and lifestyle he had always envisioned.

To say that Frank Marshall was a perfectionist would be quite an understatement. He prided himself on being in complete control in his business, his finances, their church, and their personal life. He not only planned each aspect of their lives carefully, he fully expected the plans to be fulfilled within reasonable parameters of his time frame. Marian had joked, when their two children were born, that if the first hadn't been a son and the second a daughter, as Frank had "ordered," she didn't like to think what would have happened! She knew without a doubt, however, that he would not have succeeded in sending them back!

Frank loved his children, especially his son. He had always known that Andrew would grow up, go to college, and join him as a partner in his business. He had planned it that way. Christine, his daughter, he envisioned as a teacher. From the time she could talk, she had taken the roll of director, coordinating, leading and instructing her brother and friends in all of their activities. Frank had no doubt that she would be very successful.

It was Andrew about whom Frank had cause for worry. Although Frank had taken him to the office from the time he was three or four, teaching him little things, and, as time passed, bigger things about the business, Andrew showed little interest. He had a quick mind and a good grasp of the basics, but his heart was never in it. Frank quizzed him periodically on his interests, but they were constantly changing. When Andrew was twelve he wanted to play professional baseball. When he was sixteen he wanted to join the space program and studied hard in math and physics. After Andrew graduated from high school, he shocked everyone by announcing that he had decided to join the Marines. Fortunately, Frank had been able to block that whim, since Andrew wasn't yet eighteen. And so they had entered into four stormy years of college, which stretched into five and then six. Andrew continually changed majors until Frank despaired that he would ever actually graduate.

In the meantime, Christine graduated from high school and attacked college with a vengeance. Halfway through her first semester, she asked her father for permission to work part-time in his office. His daughter was so dedicated and efficient that Frank had no problem with allowing her to work for him. Letters arrived every semester from the University announcing that Christine had once again made the dean's list. She graduated summa cum laude the same year Andrew decided to drop out of college and join the Peace Corps. Her degree was in Business Administration.

Frank Marshall's perfect world crumbled that same spring when he learned, several weeks too late to act upon it, that Andrew was shipping out to Central America. His latest college courses in agriculture qualified him to be an advisor to the poor native farmers whose lands had been devastated by warfare and natural disasters.

Christine, determined girl that she was, proposed that she become her father's partner in the family business. That had always been her intent, from the time that she had been allowed to visit her father's office with Andrew and sit in his big leather chair behind his polished mahogany desk. Frank, however, had not planned for this. It was not Christine he wanted as a business partner. She did not fit into his vision for the future. He had meant for her to be a teacher, not a partner. That was still Andrew's place.

Angered by her father's unfairness, but ever practical, Christine applied for a position with his most fierce competitor. Her talent, drive and cunning moved her up quickly through the company ranks, and it was soon her plans and projects that caused her father serious business grief.

Frank Marshall was devastated. A lifetime of plans, his business and his family life fell apart before his eyes, and he became despondent. Marian tried to comfort him, but she could not fully understand the depth of his pain. After all, both of their children were happy and fulfilled in their work. She had tried explaining to Frank that there was a time to let go of one's children and let them live their own lives. Marian thought he should rejoice that they were successful and happy. She graciously refrained from saying that it was Frank's own fault. But Christine, truly her father's daughter, was not so kind.

"Just where do you get off, Daddy, thinking that you can run everyone and everything your own way? Who died and made you god, anyway?"

And so, Frank Marshall sat in his car, in his private parking space before the corporate office of the company he had singlehandedly built, and pouted. Where had things gone wrong? He had planned it all so carefully. How could God let this happen to him?