Hold on Tight

This past Sunday we talked about Genesis 12 and Abram's trust that he had in God.

One thing that I have observed about God is that he is a responsive God. Are you familiar with responsive websites? That's what I think about. Ever taken your smart phone or tablet and gone to a website where it doesn't seem to fit your screen? You have to scroll this way and that. You have to scale and re-scale to make sure you see everything and can actually use the website. This is a website that is not made to be responsive. When you get to a responsive website (which is all the rage right now), the information and the theme of the website is made to fit whatever size browser or screen you are on. That is responsive.

God makes it so we can respond to his action. He is the maker of our spiritual website. He makes it responsive. We point and click and act and God enables us to respond. He scrolls with us and he pans where we are. He zooms in on our life to give us perspective and then zooms back out to help us see his work. God initiates. We respond. That is the nature of our God.

God reached out to Abram. Abram responded by choosing to leave his father and extended family. He left so much. In fact, he left more than he took with him. And he did it because he was responding to God telling him to go. He trusted God.

And that is how our God is. He builds trust by giving us opportunity to respond to what he is doing. Without God's action in reaching out, Abram had no response. There was simply nothing to respond to. However, God did reach out and when Abram responded, trust was made, created, built and stored. That is what I mean by saying that God puts trust in our way. In many ways, God creates the trust in us, faith if you will, by creating an opportunity for us to trust in him.

Faith and trust cannot exist if God does not act to cause them or grow them. God does the action. Our job is to respond to that action.

Our God is a god that over promises and over delivers. Have you heard that phrase before? Probably not in that order. Usually it is used to say something about good customer service. Something like, X company underpromised and then over delivered. They went above and beyond what they had said. However, have you noticed that God normally over promises? He promises to do amazing things, things that we simply can't even imagine. And we are wow-ed by God's promises, to the extent that we can't believe that he would even do those things? Why is that? But then, it comes. God does even more than he promised. He does something that goes far beyond what you could expect. He over delivers on promises that were over promised! That is our God!! And only he can do that!

That is what Abram experienced. Read the passage and follow Abram through the story of God. You will see it. It is truly amazing.

This is no different for us. God has a story with each of us. This is a story where God wants us to grow in and through all things. A plan for our lives that will astonish us. He wants the very best for us. And we need to be prepared, seek him and then . . . Hold. On. Tight.

Verses about Faith

Today the weather was great! I had asked God to make a time so that I could go hiking again today. I worked on the vision this morning and after lunch I was ready to go hike. I looked outside and the sky was clearing and the temperature was 63 degrees! Thank you God!

So I decided to head over to Frontenac State Park and go up the bluff. It was going to be a longer hike. With my boot rubbing a little on my heel I decided to push it anyway.

I ended up hiking 6.3 miles! It was wonderful. I talked to God and listened and praised him. I saw a squirrel and birds and then I saw two sets of deer.

Here are the links to see my walk yesterday and today also:

Yesterday: http://s3.amazonaws.com/accuterra/1334806372.kmz

Today: http://s3.amazonaws.com/accuterra/1334781767.kmz

Here are my stats, which was kind of fun to know:

Trip 1:

Adventure Statistics:

Time:

 

Start: 1:34:44 PMStop: 3:19:22 PMDuration: 1 hr 44 min 38 sec
Distance: 4.2 milesSpeed:
Average Speed: 2.4 miles/hrAverage Pace: 24:38 mm:ss/mile
Elevation:
Minimum: +662 feetMaximum: +823 feet
Trip 2:
Adventure Statistics:
Time:
Start: 1:17:45 PMStop: 3:45:23 PMDuration: 2 hr 27 min 38 sec
Distance: 6.3 milesSpeed:
Average Speed: 2.6 miles/hrAverage Pace: 23:26 mm:ss/mile
Elevation:
Minimum: +715 feetMaximum: +1131 feet
 


 


 

Panoramic from Bluff

I did end up getting a blister on the back of my heel. I'll live. : ]

Great day with God today. Tomorrow I head back in the afternoon. Although I video chatted with my family both nights, it wasn't the same and will be glad to get back to see them.

Have a great night all!

 

Cali Update

Hello!

Wanted to give an update on where I'm at in regards to the trip.

The airplane tickets were purchased last month and they got them for about $100 or so less than they thought! Given God the glory!

After the price adjustment, my balance left was $698.60. (Again, praise God for this! God has used you awesome people to get me this close to the goal.) I am so grateful to God for this coming together. I have been praying that it would all come together.

This morning I called Extreme Nazarene and made a payment. I had been given some monies from my congregation and needed to get it in. So! I am happy to let you all know that after that payment, I had only $250.00 left for the trip. And that just blows my mind.

Really. Those of you that know me well, you know that I am not great at accepting gifts. I know what that is and I am working on it, but I am still overwhelmed at gifts and acts of generosity. They are hard to accept. And so, I have had a lot of practice in graciously accepting gifts lately because you have all blessed me, GOD has blessed me through you all. So thank you God! And thank you for listening to God's prompting.

The story doesn't end for today, yet. I have more to tell you!

I got a phone call from a friend this morning. They live on a very tight budget. Very tight. He has a second job to support his family. He was calling to see how I was and ask me a tech question.

We were sharing some details about our lives and I told him how much I am looking forward to this trip. He asked me when we leave and I told him about how I was just about to call make the aforementioned above payment. And let him know how God had blessed me with this trip and I only had $250.00 left. We chatted some more. And then we got off the phone.

About 30 minutes later, I got a call back from my friend. He had been praying and felt led to send me a check for the last $250.00!! I didn't/don't know what to say. God IS so good.

I'm sitting here as I type with tears on my cheeks because I am humbled by God's care and provision. 

My trip is fully funded. Praise the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob! The great I AM!

So VERY humbled by God right now. Thank you, God!