Writing One Last Time from Winnsboro, Texas (a reflection about “prizes”)

Today is Friday. We fly out on Monday. We will land in Boston, stay the night with Joe and Megan Weidemann (who have literally worked for days to arrange so many details for us), and then hop the pond.

After 2 1/2 hard years, the prize for all of our perseverance is less than a week away. You know, life is not all about the journey. There are destinations. Of course, those destinations become new starting points for the next chapter. But my point is this: you don’t sacrifice for the sake of sacrifice. You give up things and suffer through things because there is a prize waiting. Sometimes the prize is on this side of the grave, sometimes the other, and sometimes it is different than what you thought it would be. The point remains: we persevere, struggle, fight, and keep getting up one more time because God is faithful to take our wholehearted efforts (whether they end in success or failure) to move us into his purposes.

What matters more than, “Are you doing God’s will?”

Are you clinging to safety? To comfort?

Are you afraid of losing what you have to go after what the Holy Spirit keeps whispering to you in the dark? At some point, you have to cut the rope, jump, and know that God will be pleased with the faith whether you did in fact hear him or missed it. I mean, lets be honest, seldom are you 100% sure that you have heard God. 90%? Impressive. 75%? Still amazing. 50%? Yikes, this will take some risk. 30%? Yep, this is hard.

Quite often, you sense that Jesus is walking around in the fog and you are catching quick, light impressions of him and his movements. You think you see. You think you hear. But faith is required. You have to trust in God enough to know that even if you miss it sometimes, Daddy is so big and his arms so strong that he can take your faith “missteps” and redirect. At least you are moving. It is easier to steer something already moving.

I fear that some Christians are so afraid of missing God that they can’t obey. Are you trying to obey God or simply not disobey? There is a big difference.

May we be people of faith. May we long for adventure that has Christ at the center and not ourselves. This doesn’t mean you will move anywhere. It might, but living by faith could mean that you start serving, forgiving, giving, listening, helping in your local church, pursuing your degree when it doesn’t seem financially wise, or __________________. You fill it in. Better yet, let God fill it in.

And remember, prizes come. God rewards. One way or another, it will be worth it.

The next time I write, it will be from Scotland. Oh, and I am hoping to finish the book by October. There has been a lot to do to prepare for this jump.