Category: Encouragement

  • Trusting when you can’t see the way

    It was a dark and stormy night. I know that sounds clichéd, but  I’ve always wanted to write it, and it was indeed a night that was dark (no moon) and stormy (with pouring rain at times).

    We were on a night march during basic training with the Canadian Armed Forces. We had an objective to find some miles away, using only a compass. It was so dark and the bush so thick in places that we literally had to hold on to the belt of the man in front to stay together. Even from that distance, you couldn’t see the man in front of you at times.

    If the person in the lead stumbled over something, so did everyone else. It was a real challenge to stay together. We were exercising noise discipline, so not more than an odd whisper was allowed. There were a lot of muffled curses and groans. 

    If you got separated, there would be no finding the group again, and the squad was penalized, so we had to hold on tight no matter what. I came to understand that night the reality of the old cliché about the blind leading the blind.

    Not only was it a night march to test our orienteering skills under less-than-ideal conditions, but it was also a team-building exercise. There was nothing to be done but hold on tight to the man in front and trust the leader with the compass. That was hard at times because every step seemed like we had walked miles, and it was unfamiliar terrain, so we had no landmarks to guide us.

    Eventually, we came out within about 20 feet of our mark and within the prescribed time. We weren’t the first team, but we were far from the last. One team had to be found after daylight, and a few stragglers were rounded up.

    We’re called to trust God in much the same way as we had to trust the man in front of us.

    Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Proverbs 3:5-6

    Sometimes in our faith walk, we don’t know where God is leading, we don’t know how we’re going to get there and everything seems to press in around us. 

    He’s a much better guide than my teammates with the compass. God never fails to deliver on a promise. He has been faithful from before the beginning of time, and He’ll be faithful when time ceases to be.

    Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations. Deuteronomy 7:9

    Whatever you face today, trust in God to get you through it. 

    That’s not a cliché, it’s a promise.

    Until next time, put your trust in the one who always delivers.

    Kevin

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  • Loving Touch

    God’s Hand in our lives

    A creek and walking trail run through the center of a local forested park. It’s a beautiful spot, with several small bridges that cross the creek, making great places for creek watching.

    Near one of the bridges is a small clearing and “beach” where local kids love to play, kindergartens do field trips, and one of the local forest schools meets. On the edge of the clearing stands an ancient hollow tree.

    This tree is the perfect size for kids to climb through, and for adults to fit in. At the entrance, you will find a spot where the old bark has been rubbed smooth and polished by thousands of loving touches from the kids. They touch it when climbing in or out, and often simply rub their hands along it because it’s smooth and polished. I had to give it a rub myself.

    I’ve seen something similar in old wooden banisters or the back of ancient church pews. The tiny amount of oil in each hand’s touch shapes, smooths, and polishes the wood.

    There is a sense in which, on every day of our lives, the Lord lovingly touches us. He molds us, shapes us, and directs us. If we were able to see, I suspect we might look lovingly shaped and polished as well.

    There is nothing about us that escapes His notice.

    For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. Psalm 139:13-16

    But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace. Galatians 1:5

    For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. Romans 8:29

    He knows us and shapes each of us individually.

    For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:10

    Each day, He continues to work in us and will not leave the job unfinished.

    And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. Philippians 1:6

    No matter what life throws our way, we remain secure. Our circumstances might change radically, and life is far from easy much of the time. Still, we can hold fast knowing the hands that hold us.

    I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me,is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one. John 10:28-30

    There will come a day when we will see what His loving hands have shaped us to be. What rejoicing there will be on that day.

    Hallelu Yah (Praise God)

    Be blessed, 

    Kevin

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