Tuesday, August 27, 2013
Beginnings
So...here we are...the journey officially begins this day. Hot and humid Houston, Texas. It's a joy to tell and retell the stories that got us here: Why TAP (The Antioch Partners)? Why Kenya? Why the Maasai people? It's almost unreal to trace God's handiwork throughout our lives to where he has us in this time. Details seemingly "coincidental": two passions for a land we know some (but honestly little) about, prayers from people across the country and the world, multiple people mentioning and directing and pointing us to TAP. All of this is His work. I often ask myself, "Am I trusting enough to really do this?" and I simply know that denying this is being disobedient, ignoring the call that he has placed on our lives. "What about *insert anything here*?" "How long do you think we can do this?", I ask. And he says, "Be still and rest in my presence." The author and director asks me to be patient, to trust him. I thank God for the people among us in Blacksburg and Radford who have continually lifted us up in prayer, who have encouraged us, and those who have asked about our steps in this journey. Whether they know it or not, they are a crucial piece to this mystery and adventure as we rest in the groundwork of a supportive body to come along side us as we pray and prepare.
Monday, August 26, 2013
Baby Steps
Proverbs 3:5 Trust
in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding;
In all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your paths.
Trust. It seems like such a simple word but when it comes to one's livelihood the things we once thought we held strong to are often tested. C.S. Lewis states in his book a grief observed,
"You never know how much you really believe anything until its truth or falsehood becomes a matter of life and death to you. It is easy to say you believe a rope to be strong and sound as long as you are merely using it to cord a box. But suppose you had to hang by that rope over a precipice. Wouldn't you then first discover how much you really trusted it?... And you will never discover how serious it was until the stakes are raised horribly high until you find that you are playing not for counters or for sixpences but for every penny you have in the world. Nothing less will shake a man- or at any rate a man like me- out of his merely verbal thinking and his merely notional beliefs. He has to be knocked silly before he comes to his senses. Only torture will bring out the truth. Only under torture does he discover it himself."
Now Lewis was writing about the loss of his wife, and I am not speaking of anything near that traumatic, nor deep but instead learning to trust as I walk blindly after a call. Many of you may know that Audrey and I have a heart for missions, East Africa, and the Maasai, and that we have been anxious to see where God has us and how He will use the passion He has instilled in our hearts to accomplish His great plan. Many of you have been walking and praying with us on this journey. As of last week, this dream, this yearning, has become a reality when we accepted a partnership with The Antioch Partners to work with the Maasai in Kimana, Kenya. We are elated and excited to start this journey but as we proceed with excitement we also are learning to trust.
It is funny because I often fear that trust is one of my better aspects. Some may characterize me as a risk taker. I often throw caution to the wind and fling myself headlong into whatever I feel is calling me and wherever that leads. And to some degree I feel that with this journey, it is only when it becomes more immediate that I start to worry that my fears become more realized and my trust wavers. I have discovered over this process that as long as something lies in the distance it is easy to trust until that moment it is upon you, that you think it should be and it is not yet. It is in these moments God says not your timing but Mine. Trust and follow Me. And I am learning although this process is hard, it is teaching me to trust and spend a little more quality time with my creator.
My friends and I used to have a saying in college, as all bright young college guys normally do, "one day/one step at a time". Often this would get us into trouble because no one was thinking far enough ahead to anticipate consequences, but we fully trusted and we leapt. This brings me to the title of this rambling blog, (a first taste of that which is to come as we pursue our East African journey) Baby Steps. I was talking to a friend last night. As we had a revelation, she mentioned to me that her pastor once described God as a God of "bait and catch". People may often see this as God giving us a glimpse of something and we run headlong after it, never getting far, only to feel as though God has moved the mark or played some cruel trick on us. However, I do not feel like this is the case. I do not believe that God does this as some cruel cosmic joke. Rather he only gives us a piece because it is all we can handle. Not to say that sometimes he does not give us more, but at this point, He is teaching us to walk, much like we would teach a newborn that would try to take off in any one direction. Walk to daddy, pause, let daddy step back in a different direction, waddle to daddy, Daddy catches you, turns you, backs up, and lets you fall into Him once again. This is not a reckless endeavor for we are in the hands of He who created us and knows our beginning and end, and we are trusting in Him.
Psalm 37:23 The steps of a man are established by the Lord, And He delights in his way. When he falls, he will not be hurled headlong, Because the Lord is the One who holds his hand.
Trust. It seems like such a simple word but when it comes to one's livelihood the things we once thought we held strong to are often tested. C.S. Lewis states in his book a grief observed,
"You never know how much you really believe anything until its truth or falsehood becomes a matter of life and death to you. It is easy to say you believe a rope to be strong and sound as long as you are merely using it to cord a box. But suppose you had to hang by that rope over a precipice. Wouldn't you then first discover how much you really trusted it?... And you will never discover how serious it was until the stakes are raised horribly high until you find that you are playing not for counters or for sixpences but for every penny you have in the world. Nothing less will shake a man- or at any rate a man like me- out of his merely verbal thinking and his merely notional beliefs. He has to be knocked silly before he comes to his senses. Only torture will bring out the truth. Only under torture does he discover it himself."
Now Lewis was writing about the loss of his wife, and I am not speaking of anything near that traumatic, nor deep but instead learning to trust as I walk blindly after a call. Many of you may know that Audrey and I have a heart for missions, East Africa, and the Maasai, and that we have been anxious to see where God has us and how He will use the passion He has instilled in our hearts to accomplish His great plan. Many of you have been walking and praying with us on this journey. As of last week, this dream, this yearning, has become a reality when we accepted a partnership with The Antioch Partners to work with the Maasai in Kimana, Kenya. We are elated and excited to start this journey but as we proceed with excitement we also are learning to trust.
It is funny because I often fear that trust is one of my better aspects. Some may characterize me as a risk taker. I often throw caution to the wind and fling myself headlong into whatever I feel is calling me and wherever that leads. And to some degree I feel that with this journey, it is only when it becomes more immediate that I start to worry that my fears become more realized and my trust wavers. I have discovered over this process that as long as something lies in the distance it is easy to trust until that moment it is upon you, that you think it should be and it is not yet. It is in these moments God says not your timing but Mine. Trust and follow Me. And I am learning although this process is hard, it is teaching me to trust and spend a little more quality time with my creator.
My friends and I used to have a saying in college, as all bright young college guys normally do, "one day/one step at a time". Often this would get us into trouble because no one was thinking far enough ahead to anticipate consequences, but we fully trusted and we leapt. This brings me to the title of this rambling blog, (a first taste of that which is to come as we pursue our East African journey) Baby Steps. I was talking to a friend last night. As we had a revelation, she mentioned to me that her pastor once described God as a God of "bait and catch". People may often see this as God giving us a glimpse of something and we run headlong after it, never getting far, only to feel as though God has moved the mark or played some cruel trick on us. However, I do not feel like this is the case. I do not believe that God does this as some cruel cosmic joke. Rather he only gives us a piece because it is all we can handle. Not to say that sometimes he does not give us more, but at this point, He is teaching us to walk, much like we would teach a newborn that would try to take off in any one direction. Walk to daddy, pause, let daddy step back in a different direction, waddle to daddy, Daddy catches you, turns you, backs up, and lets you fall into Him once again. This is not a reckless endeavor for we are in the hands of He who created us and knows our beginning and end, and we are trusting in Him.
Psalm 37:23 The steps of a man are established by the Lord, And He delights in his way. When he falls, he will not be hurled headlong, Because the Lord is the One who holds his hand.
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