January 2010! Really!? It's been that long since I have posted on here? Hard to believe and even harder to realize all that has changed since then. There is so much that is different in my life since I last posted. I am no longer the Student Minister at the church I was at...long story and maybe more to come later on that but for now just know that I resigned that position in January of 2011. I haven't talked much about the reasons or circumstances that led to that publicly yet, and for now the official reason is that God is preparing me for something new in ministry.
Part of this preparation has been my returning to school full-time to finish my degree. I took 19 hours this past Spring semester (received A's in all 8 classes, too! Praise God!), am taking 9 currently over the summer term and will finish the last 14 hours needed in the Fall to graduate in December. I say all that to establish the reason that I find myself back here at my blog, finally updating it. I don't know if anyone will even read this but one of the young men that I have became friends with at school has started a blog (Check it out at http://davidbologna.wordpress.com/ its really good) and in the process of deciding to start that venture of his own he was asking me if I blogged. I told him that I had a blog but hadn't updated it in quite awhile. This brought me back here and eventually has lit the fire of inspiration to try to begin blogging again and hopefully more frequently this time around. I have more available time right now since I am not working (though I am looking for a job so if anyone knows of one or needs some help, please let me know...my kids would like to eat this week!) and 9 hours over the summer is somewhat of a respite from the 19 I just finished. Anyway, I digress...the reason I brought up school and my friend and blogging is because God has blessed me with some amazing new friends at school. Men and women who are committing themselves to the study and preaching and teaching of God's word (see 1 Timothy 4:13) and who have been encouragers as well as inspirations to me.
One of these men invited me to speak at his church this past Sunday. In my study in preparation for this opportunity to share God's word, He revealed to me more insight to where my life is and where I'm headed. More importantly He helped me see His plan not from the ground level view that we all often only see things from. But as one of my favorite pastors likes to say, I saw it from "30,000 feet".
In Joshua, we find the Israelites have finally finished their 40 years of wondering, Moses has been called home, and it is time for Joshua to lead the next generation across the Jordan River and finally take the promised land. If you are not familiar with this story, I encourage you to get a Bible or check out www.youversion.com and for today's story read Numbers chapters 13-14 and then flip over to Joshua chapter 14 and read verses 6-14. When the Israelites had finally reached the promised land they sent 12 men, one from each tribe, across the Jordan to scout out the promised land and upon their return, 10 of these men claimed the land was amazing but that there were people living on the land whom they feared they could not defeat and so they refused to trust God and continue on into the promised land. 2 of the men though were not afraid and encouraged the people to trust God because He had called them to this land and would provide it for them. One of those men was Caleb. God was disappointed in the Israelites refusal to trust Him and due to this He decided to make them wander in the desert for 40 years and none of that generation would get to settle in the promised land because of their unfaithfulness. The exception to this judgment was Caleb and Joshua and their families because they 'followed me (God) completely' (Num. 14:24). So Caleb had to wait 45 years and wander in the wilderness with the unfaithful generation of Israelites, the entire time, knowing what the promised land was like and knowing how he could have already been living there. How hard that must have been! How frustrating and defeating he must have felt to have to endure the hardships of the wilderness instead of the blessings of the promised land. Yet when the time came for Caleb to finally take his place in the promised land, he was ready. And when I say ready I don't mean, he was ready for someone else to go in and settle the land and build him a nice fancy house so that he could just move in. In Joshua 14 we see Caleb informing Joshua that he was ready to take his promised portion of the land by whatever means necessary. He claimed he was as strong on that day as he had been 45 years earlier and that God would be with him, so now he was ready to take the mountain. Now you must remember that Caleb was around 40 when he first saw the promised land and now he was 85 when it was time to occupy the land. There were still foreigners inhabiting the land and would have to be dealt with and the land would still need to be settled for him, but Caleb was still following God 'wholly' and knew God would provide.
What I took from Caleb's story and was allowed to view from '30,000 feet' was that even though others have had a larger impact on how my life and ministry have progressed the last 18 months and even though I currently find myself still in my 'wilderness', I know that I want to continue to follow God 'completely' and be 'wholly' devoted to Him. I want to be like Caleb was so that when the day comes that I get to enter the 'promised land', I can claim the mountain He has for me and know that God will lead me there!
So the question for you today is, are you wholly devoted to God? Are you following Him even in the wilderness or just when you think you've reached the 'promised land'. He loves you and longs to have a relationship with you but it is up to you to decide if He is your God only when things are good and you are not afraid of following Him or if you are His completely! Just remember, the walk is always better when there is more of Him and less of you....
Part of this preparation has been my returning to school full-time to finish my degree. I took 19 hours this past Spring semester (received A's in all 8 classes, too! Praise God!), am taking 9 currently over the summer term and will finish the last 14 hours needed in the Fall to graduate in December. I say all that to establish the reason that I find myself back here at my blog, finally updating it. I don't know if anyone will even read this but one of the young men that I have became friends with at school has started a blog (Check it out at http://davidbologna.wordpress.com/ its really good) and in the process of deciding to start that venture of his own he was asking me if I blogged. I told him that I had a blog but hadn't updated it in quite awhile. This brought me back here and eventually has lit the fire of inspiration to try to begin blogging again and hopefully more frequently this time around. I have more available time right now since I am not working (though I am looking for a job so if anyone knows of one or needs some help, please let me know...my kids would like to eat this week!) and 9 hours over the summer is somewhat of a respite from the 19 I just finished. Anyway, I digress...the reason I brought up school and my friend and blogging is because God has blessed me with some amazing new friends at school. Men and women who are committing themselves to the study and preaching and teaching of God's word (see 1 Timothy 4:13) and who have been encouragers as well as inspirations to me.
One of these men invited me to speak at his church this past Sunday. In my study in preparation for this opportunity to share God's word, He revealed to me more insight to where my life is and where I'm headed. More importantly He helped me see His plan not from the ground level view that we all often only see things from. But as one of my favorite pastors likes to say, I saw it from "30,000 feet".
In Joshua, we find the Israelites have finally finished their 40 years of wondering, Moses has been called home, and it is time for Joshua to lead the next generation across the Jordan River and finally take the promised land. If you are not familiar with this story, I encourage you to get a Bible or check out www.youversion.com and for today's story read Numbers chapters 13-14 and then flip over to Joshua chapter 14 and read verses 6-14. When the Israelites had finally reached the promised land they sent 12 men, one from each tribe, across the Jordan to scout out the promised land and upon their return, 10 of these men claimed the land was amazing but that there were people living on the land whom they feared they could not defeat and so they refused to trust God and continue on into the promised land. 2 of the men though were not afraid and encouraged the people to trust God because He had called them to this land and would provide it for them. One of those men was Caleb. God was disappointed in the Israelites refusal to trust Him and due to this He decided to make them wander in the desert for 40 years and none of that generation would get to settle in the promised land because of their unfaithfulness. The exception to this judgment was Caleb and Joshua and their families because they 'followed me (God) completely' (Num. 14:24). So Caleb had to wait 45 years and wander in the wilderness with the unfaithful generation of Israelites, the entire time, knowing what the promised land was like and knowing how he could have already been living there. How hard that must have been! How frustrating and defeating he must have felt to have to endure the hardships of the wilderness instead of the blessings of the promised land. Yet when the time came for Caleb to finally take his place in the promised land, he was ready. And when I say ready I don't mean, he was ready for someone else to go in and settle the land and build him a nice fancy house so that he could just move in. In Joshua 14 we see Caleb informing Joshua that he was ready to take his promised portion of the land by whatever means necessary. He claimed he was as strong on that day as he had been 45 years earlier and that God would be with him, so now he was ready to take the mountain. Now you must remember that Caleb was around 40 when he first saw the promised land and now he was 85 when it was time to occupy the land. There were still foreigners inhabiting the land and would have to be dealt with and the land would still need to be settled for him, but Caleb was still following God 'wholly' and knew God would provide.
What I took from Caleb's story and was allowed to view from '30,000 feet' was that even though others have had a larger impact on how my life and ministry have progressed the last 18 months and even though I currently find myself still in my 'wilderness', I know that I want to continue to follow God 'completely' and be 'wholly' devoted to Him. I want to be like Caleb was so that when the day comes that I get to enter the 'promised land', I can claim the mountain He has for me and know that God will lead me there!
So the question for you today is, are you wholly devoted to God? Are you following Him even in the wilderness or just when you think you've reached the 'promised land'. He loves you and longs to have a relationship with you but it is up to you to decide if He is your God only when things are good and you are not afraid of following Him or if you are His completely! Just remember, the walk is always better when there is more of Him and less of you....
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