Heading Home

Standing on the edge, swimmies snug on the arms.
Ready, set, JUMP!
Caught by Dad.
Paddle to the edge.
Climb the ladder.
Stand on the edge again.
Ready, set, JUMP!

Those were the days when the kids were very young and we took them swimming. They loved to leap from the side of the pool and be caught.

But let’s back up a bit. Did they love jumping in at first? No way! In fact, they were quite apprehensive, even frightened. But with trust in their father, they leaped, recognizing the safety of his open arms, and their fears dissipated.

What about us? Are we ready to take a leap off that spiritual edge into the scary unknown of obeying some command or new action given by the Lord? Or do we believe it to be so difficult that we talk ourselves out of obedience?

Do we permit our past to shove us into the back of the closet of self-preservation? Do we accept the attempts of the Ol’ Fear-monger to paralyze us with fear, immobilizing us in our present?

We always have a choice. To get started in whatever task the Lord calls us to do, we must choose to overcome what holds us back and take that step or leap of faith.

However, the Lord never gives us courage for that first step. He leaves that initial decision up to us. He may nudge us a little, but we have to take that first step of faith, or leap of faith, as the case may be. Just as those down through the ages have done.

Noah stepped out in total faith. Actually, he took a giant leap! Build a what? Because it’s going to do what? What is rain? And what’s a cubit? Did others laugh at him? I’m most certain they did.

Has God led you to do something so outrageous that it appears ridiculous to you? Stepping out may seem laughable to you but it will cost you, and possibly others, dearly if you do not obey.

Did it seem impossible to the Israelites when they were hemmed in on all sides, the enemy’s rattling chariots closing in behind them, the mountain heights looming on either side of them, and the sea’s heaving waves in front of them?

No way out. Beyond the bounds of possibility, right? Has God asked you to do something that seems hopeless to accomplish? He will make a way, you know.

And there’s always Abraham. Obeying the Lord by leaving where he lived and going to an unknown land. “By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he dwelt in the land of promise.” (Heb. 11:8-9a NKJV)

Not even knowing where he was going! But to activate that promise of God, Abraham placed one foot in front of the other. In my quirky mind, I hear the words to the song in the cartoon Santa Claus is Coming to Town...

Put one foot in front of the other
And soon you’ll be walking cross the floor
Put one foot in front of the other
And soon you’ll be walking out the door

Has God been nudging you to do something but you’ve hesitated? If you are apprehensive, even frightened to take that first step or leap of faith, trust in your Father, take the plunge, recognize the safety of His open arms, and your fears will dissipate.

To leap or not to leap? Go ahead! Take the leap! See what happens!

Today, I’m happy to bring you another sweet cyber-friend, Sylvia Stewart. Sylvia grew up in the (then) Belgian Congo. She spent 21 years as an Assemblies of God missionary in Malawi, East Africa, with her husband, Duane. While there, she taught some writing workshops, which are now bearing fruit. She started writing Kondi’s Quest hoping to weave a story for the children of Malawi.

Here’s Sylvia...

“Honey, stir your coffee silently -- like this,” Daddy admonished with a gentle, loving smile. He swirled his spoon in the very center of the cup two or three times, then placed the spoon in the saucer. No clattering nor clanking!

I grew up in Africa where sugar granules were very large and stirring one’s coffee or tea was either a vigorous or a prolonged business. I preferred to hurry things up. However, Daddy wanted me appear to be a lady instead of a girl who came from an end-of-the-road mission -- a from-the-jungle girl who didn’t understand the demands of “polite society.” He wanted me to conform to actions approved by those I presently lived among.

Although learning to stir my coffee without a clatter hasn’t helped me rise very far on the social scale, a certain amount of conformity is good. Jesus conformed to ceremonial washing before a meal. He also attended the synagogue even though He acknowledged that some of the Jewish religious leaders were like “whited sepulchers” (Matt 23:27), appealingly clean on the outside but full of decay and rot.

God asked a lot of people in the Bible to act in non-conforming ways:

Abraham – to go to an unknown destination. He could have replied, “A place You will show me, Lord? I have no idea where I’m going!”

Moses – to speak to a rock to find water in the desert. He could have said, “Speak to a rock, Lord? The people will think I’m crazy!”

Noah – to build an ark on dry land. He could have said, “Lord, there is no sea – not even close to here! And rain? I’ve never heard of it before!”

Jocabed – to put her baby in a basket in the river. “God, put my baby in the river? There are crocodiles in there!”

Ruth – to stay with her mother-in-law rather than return to her own home. “I don’t know anyone in Israel!”

Rahab – to hide spies when it would have been more politically correct to expose them. “Hide them? I could be killed for doing this!”

Hosea – to marry Gomer. “But Lord, she’s a harlot and I’m set apart to be your man of God.”

The penniless widow of a prophet – to gather many pots in which to pour her dram of oil. “Yeah, right! How far will this little bit of oil go? And then I’ll look ridiculous to all my neighbors when I have to return these pots – empty.”

Radical non-conformity, if God has required it of us, is right—providing, of course, that we’re sure it comes from God. Here’s an example: When we taught in Bible College in Ethiopia, a student came to our school with lumps and scabs on his head. He had constant headaches because he had been beaten and stoned by his village. Even members of his own family participated.

His offense? -- preaching the Gospel.

Toward the end of his first year, he stood in chapel and requested prayer for his vacation ministry. “God is telling me to go back to my village and preach. I know it could mean I will die.”

When we respond in faith, we will be blessed. It requires a leap of faith. I read recently, “Both fear and faith believe what the mind envisions will happen.” Will I cower or consent? Perhaps I do stir my coffee more silently these days. However, if God requires us to do something unusual for Him, something no one else has done, let’s respond with a leap of faith.

And a step of obedience.


~~About the book...

Kondi, a 12-year-old Malawian girl, is sure her father, Bambo, doesn’t love her. He seems to care more about the secret brown envelope he carries with him everywhere than his own daughter. She’s convinced things will improve, though, when her mother’s baby arrives.

Then one night Bambo beats Mai in a drunken rage, and neighbors rush her off to the hospital. Will Mai and the baby live? Will Kondi be sold off by her uncle Kakama to a rich man to be his third wife? And what could possibly be in Bambo’s brown envelope?

The secrets are about to be revealed.

~~I hope you’ll visit Sylvia’s site and her book Kondi's Quest.

“I’m going out to fish,” Peter calls over his shoulder to the other disciples.

“We’re coming, too!” came the unified response.

The sudden afternoon storm subsided. The roiling waters now stilled to a soothing pulse of gentle waves lap against the pebbly shoreline as if tapping a coded message, enticing the men to the secret bounty of the sea’s depth.

Jumping onboard the fishing boat, the men set out on the Sea of Tiberias.

As the sun slowly slides behind the western hills, it spins out threads of red, orange, and gold against the azure sky as the crystal blue waters glisten with mirrored hills.

While the dark hours pass, the men cast their nets over and over upon the water, each time coming up empty-netted. Disappointed, they head back.

As night bows to dawn, wisps of pink, blue, and violet blush across the sky as a pale haze hangs over the surface of the sea.

Just as their boat draws close to shore, a man’s voice calls out to the men, “Did you catch anything?”

“No,” is their discouraged reply.

“Throw out your net on the right side of the boat, and you’ll catch some!” yells the man.

Although somewhat baffled, the men throw out their net. It splashes on the water’s surface and sinks. Within minutes, they can barely draw in the net; it is filled to capacity with a multitude of fish.

As the impact of the miracle confronts them, John turns to Peter and blurts out, “It is the Lord!”

Hearing this, Peter whips around, puts on the outer garment he had removed earlier, steps onto the edge of the boat, and takes a flying leap into the water. Headstrong Peter, the waterboy!

The others jump into the skiff and head for shore, dragging the net-full of fish with them.

On the shore, bending over a bed of coals, Jesus pokes at the simmering fish and bread and says to them, “Come and have some breakfast.”

As the men gather around the fire, Jesus breaks the bread and shares it with the disciples; then passes out the fish. Once again, serving up the miracle of the loaves and fishes. A pleasant and loving surprise.

During a night of fruitless struggling, toiling under our own efforts, we will always come up empty-handed. When the Lord gives us a command, and we immediately obey, He meets us at the break of morn with a fresh supply of His unfailing love, as scripture says, “The Lord’s unfailing love and mercy still continue, fresh as the morning, as sure as the sunrise.” (Lam. 3:22-23 Good News Translation)

Doesn’t that bless you? God will always shower His love and mercy on us, filling our empty nets when we cast them upon the depths of His Word.

Become aware of the Lord’s voice and heed the Master’s call. When you dive out of the boat of self-effort, you will find provision ready and waiting, a foretaste of heaven’s table to fulfill your hunger, whether physical or spiritual...or both. He will break the bread and pass out the fish to you as rewards.

He waits on the shore for you to come to Him. As Bruce Wilkinson says in the Secrets of the Vine, “Are you standing precariously at a launching point in your life? Do you hear a voice calling? It is the Lord. I hope you jump.”

May you launch out and jump in the waters of obedience; Jesus is waiting for you with a sweet surprise!

Ready? Set! Jump!

Learning a trade from a father was essential. A tradition of following in a father’s footsteps. And so this young man obeys.

In the humble beginning of his apprenticeship, he is learning from his father to carve out the design of the wood, to press his hands against the wood and feel the grain, and to carry stacks of wood.

Still a young lad and learning his trade, he needs the direction of his father’s callused hands to guide his unskilled hands, which now need a little rest.

Stepping away from the carpenter’s bench, he walks outside the shop to take a break from his work and stretch his back.

Standing in the warm, noon sun, he picks at another of the daily splinters in his hands, as the rhythm of the hammer pounds in the background. Extending his arms toward the sky, he says a prayer of thanksgiving to God the Father.

He breathes in fresh air to rid his nostrils of sawdust. First shaking his head to dislodge more sawdust tangled in his hair, he then removes his sandals and shakes out the wood shavings.

As the sun’s warmth soothes his aching muscles, he wonders when he first loved the savory aroma of wood. From the stories his father has told him, he decides the first whiffs seeped into his memory from the wooden trough at his birth.

When would Jesus realize all these things were harbingers of agony upon a wooden cross?

Did that dreadful day of agony revive all those fragrant memories of His childhood? What did those harbingers herald?

* Stepping aside from His carpenter’s life means stepping into His glorified life.
* The sawdust that clung to His hair is now exchanged for a crown of thorns encircling His head.
* Stretching His sore back could never compare to the excruciating pain from the flesh-revealing stripes received from a scourge.
* The removing of His sandals rid them of sawdust; now removing them reveals His feet for torture.
* The wood He once carried strengthened Him to carry a cross-beam along the Via Dolorosa.
* His hands, once suffering splinters from pressing against the grain of the wood, now feeling pain as shards puncture them from bearing the weight of the wooden cross-beam.
* The hammer that pounded in the background now pounds in rhythmic timbre upon the nail heads, piercing His hands.
* The memory-scent of the wood, embedded in His nostrils, infuses His soul as the punctured wood releases that familiar fragrance.
* The fresh air He so easily breathed in now barely makes it into His nostrils as He struggles to breathe.
* His muscles that ached from work now throb from the pain of crucifixion, which no soothing sun can ever relieve.
* His arms extended once again...in prayer to His Father.

Following His heavenly Father’s guidance, this young Man obeyed...unto death.
The scent of the wood released from obedience.
A sweet aroma to the Father.

Lord, I hear You knocking. I’m coming.

Come on in. It’s cold out there. Make Yourself at home. Please come in and help me renovate my home for You.

Help me clean out the closet of my hidden thoughts and throw away the trash of wrong attitudes. Dust behind the doors where preconceived ideas accumulate like cobwebs.

Sweep out the corners of my heart where the soil of unwillingness has piled up. Dig into those deep crevices of my soul where stubbornness plants its roots. Shine Your light into the dark recesses of my emotions so nothing can remain hidden from Your forgiveness.

Remove from the shelves of my mind all the negative thoughts that I cling to and replace them all with Your promises that they may be readily available whenever I need them.

Scrub down the walls that have been littered with the graffiti of my words that are dirty blemishes on Your Spirit and Your Word. Repair the cracks in the walls so that the enemy cannot ooze in with his unwanted ideas.

When spiritual unrest jams up my usefulness as a channel, rout out all the garbage of self that Your living waters may run freely, cleansing…

Fix the holes in the roof where the rains of difficulties leak in and threaten to dampen my soul-rest. Seal up the broken windows where the winds of discontent blow in so easily. Let Your joy clean the windows and give them the sparkle that the world needs to see.

Clean out the soot of wrong burning desires that have blackened my chimney. Cleanse it that it may allow the vapors of praise to rise heavenward. Rekindle the embers of my heart’s passion that have grown cold. Ignite a blazing desire to know You more, to serve You more, and to love You more.

Use my tears to mop the floor of my soul where it has been trampled upon with the muddy feet of those who would rather walk over me than to see the hurt and pain within me.

Dismantle the fences that I have unwittingly built which have kept me from reaching out to help someone or kept some hurt soul from reaching in.

Help me build on that one sure Foundation that is unshakable and can withstand all storms and disasters. Help me erect that exterior that holds all else together, using my obedience as the cement to hold Your bricks of truth in place. Make sure I pick up and use each brick so that the edifice does not become faulty, because each truth left lying on the ground is useless.

There is but one chair within these walls, and it is the throne upon which I give You the honor of sitting. When I try to sit upon it myself, shove me off! Make me land with a jolt hard enough to bring me to my senses, because it is Your throne, meant only for You.

Lord, this is Your home. Let us build it together and keep it clean together. May it always be a temple in which You may reside and can always feel proud enough to bring others to visit. May it be a monument to Your grace, Your forgiveness, and Your love.

“Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it...”

Last time, I asked… What is faith if it is not tested? And when it is tested, and we are found to be obedient, isn’t God always there, ready to rescue us and provide an answer?

One of the greatest faith tests and rescues in the Bible occurred in the life of Abraham. In his hour of intense testing, the Lord appeared and provided an answer.

Years after the fulfillment of God’s promise of a son, Abraham experienced a test that squeezed his faith to the max in the most frightening of all ways. God told Abraham to take his long-awaited, beloved son Isaac to the land of Moriah and to offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains which God would tell him.

Gulp! Did Abraham run in the other direction or pretend he didn’t hear God? No! He listened to God’s instructions and obeyed. When Abraham, Isaac, and the servants reached the mount of God’s choosing, Abraham spoke out of the abundance of a faithful heart, for he told his servants at the bottom of the hill, (one of my favorite faith-filled verses), “The boy and I will travel a little farther. We will worship there, and then we will come right back.” (Gen 22:5 NLT)

Up the hill of sacrifice they went to worship! Abraham’s faith started at the bottom of the hill while the rescue plan was yet to be unfurled. Once they reached the top, Abraham laid all on the altar, all that was valuable and precious to him, his only son, trusting that God would raise him up again.

In answer to Isaac’s question of the whereabouts of a lamb, Abraham said to Isaac, “God will see the lamb for Himself,” (Gen. 22:8 Mas) or “God will provide for Himself a lamb.” (Gen. 22:8 NKJV)

The Hebrew word for ‘provide’ means to see, appear, to present oneself, perceiving or ascertaining something apart from seeing it with one’s eyes, and so on. The English definition comes from the Latin ‘providere,’ which means before seeing, to take measures with due foresight, to get ready beforehand, and so on.

Abraham held his dagger high in the air, his hand quivering as the dagger glistened in the sun. Sweat poured down his forehead. He held his breath and heard, “Abraham! Abraham!” The Angel of the Lord commanded him to stay his hand of destruction.

Then, God said, “For now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.” (Gen. 22:12 NKJV)

Abraham raised his tear-filled eyes, turned and saw the sacrifice provided. God presented a ram of sacrificial replacement, a male sheep with its horns entangled in the bushes, as the foreshadowing of a crown of thorns upon the head of the Lamb of replacement.

Abraham then called that place “The-Lord-Will-Provide.” (Gen. 22:14 NKJV)

On our refrigerator is a marker board, an advertisement from some company. Some time ago, as financial woes hounded us, I wrote this on it:

Faith is not moved by what it sees. “There is a sound of abundance…” (1 Kings 18:41 NKJV) $…Elijah spoke it…prayed it…believed it…and after the drought, the rains came!!! Then, up in one corner, I wrote this: There’s a ram in the thicket!

When I wrote that, I made up a simple, little chorus to the tune of “If You’re Happy and You Know It, Clap Your Hands.” It goes like this:

There’s a ram in the thicket just for me,
There’s a ram in the thicket just for me,
There’s a ram in the thicket that’ll be just the ticket,
There’s a ram in the thicket just for me!

And there has been!

Abraham passed the faith test. His hill of sacrifice became his pinnacle of obedience and his summit of provision. All Abraham did, the Bible says, he did by faith, and the promises of God were thereby fulfilled.

* Has God asked you to sacrifice some “Isaac” in your life? Have you obeyed or held it tight?
* Do you have some hill of circumstance before you? Do you mount it with praise and worship?
* Do you have the same unfaltering, Abrahamic obedience and belief that God will work out your faith tests, even when you see no way of escape?

God provided the lamb of rescue for Abraham. And He will do it for you.