Water Stand Up!

  I love the story in the book of Joshua, where the Israelites are about to cross into their promised land.  They’ve been wandering around in the desert for 40 years, and their leader, who they’ve followed all those years, has just died.  Joshua has just started to lead them, and he has some pretty big shoes to fill, for indeed, Moses was a faith filled gutsy man.  He did what God told him to do, no matter how crazy.  Joshua had served under him, and now he’s to take the lead.  No wonder God repeatedly told Joshua not to fear, but to be strong and courageous.  He didn’t want to screw up and wander around for another 40 years in the desert.

  I’m sure there was a few who stepped up to Joshua and asked, “What are you going to do now? What’s the plan?” So following in Moses footsteps, he sends out spies into the land.  Joshua knew well the job of a spy, as he was one of the 12 spies that went and spied out the land forty years before.  He knew how good the land was, he had seen it with his own eyes, and now forty years later only him and Caleb were left who had seen the promised land, and it was time to go in and take it.

  These two spies, like Joshua forty years before, came back with a good report.  It’s a “Let’s go, the land is good, and the people there are terrified of us, so let’s roll.”  So they all head toward the Jordon river. 

    The Jordon River is not a big river, it’s only on average, 33 feet wide and at it’s widest point about 60 feet wide, but in the book of Joshua it states that it was harvest time, and the river was at flood stage, overflowing its banks.  The Jordon averages about 6.5 feet deep, but there are places where it’s 17 feet deep, some sources say even deeper.

  So they camped on the banks for a few days, seeking God, and then went forth with the strangest plan.  The priests are going to carry the Ark of the Covenant into the river.  Joshua told them that when the priest feet touch the water the flow will be cut off  upstream, and the river will stand up like a wall.

  Wait a minute!  Are we reliving the Red Sea crossing?  Similar, but not quite, but the same God doing it.  This time, they have to step into it, and get their feet wet.  As they step in,  the water some twenty miles away near the town of Adam begins to dam up with no natural dam.  The water stands up!  Water usually flows down, but this time, it stood at attention and stood up, and backed up. The water below where they had stepped into the river then flowed into the Dead Sea, and the riverbed dried up.  The amazing thing was they couldn’t see the water pile up, because it was 20 miles away.  But God had gone ahead, and at the precise time that they step in, they start to see the water receeding, even though it was standing up some 20 miles away.

    God sees ahead, and is working even when you can’t see it.  When all you can see is the river at flood stage in front of you, and you think you’re gonna have to sink or swim, God is already at work, twenty miles away, making the water stand up!  When you obey and step in, watch how God makes what can drown you stand up so you can cross on dry land.  God will do His part, but first you must do your part.  Step in and get your feet wet!  Do what God has told YOU to do.  Even when it seems a little crazy.  You’ll never see the miracle, if you stand on the shore and only look at the river.  Step in!  Yes, your feet are gonna get wet, but 20 miles away where you can’t see, God is up to something.  He’s making water stand up in response to your obedience. 

“The priests will carry the Ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth. As soon as their feet touch the water, the flow of water will be cut off upstream, and the river will stand up like a wall.”

‭‭Joshua‬ ‭3‬:‭13‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Honey from the Rock

I made happy waffles this morning!

 Psalms 81: CEB "But I would feed you with the finest wheat. I would satisfy you with honey from the rock." 

    This scripture stopped me this morning. I understand being fed with the finest of wheat. I've lived most of my life in the bread basket of America. The Great Plains, where the wheat fields flow their golden color for miles and miles every year. We feed the rest of the nation and world. Fine wheat with a high protein content makes the best bread. I understand that. So the Psalmist was saying God would feed me the finest, the best wheat because He is the bread of life. 

But what does honey from the rock mean? I don't usually think of honey coming from rocks. That's not the usual place bees make their hives. Could it be that's the whole point of this phrase? In a place you least expect it to come from, a rock, God can bring sweetness. In those places that could crush you or make you stumble and fall, God can bring honey. 

    Today marks the second anniversary of my surgery for me. Two years ago today, I was being rolled into an operating room and didn't come out till almost 12 hours later. The surgery was not only long, but to quote the doctor in her report, it was "most difficult." As my body lay on a bed for the next few days, I was probably somewhere else. I don't know where, as I have no memories of those days up to and shortly following February 11, 2021. It's just a white cloudy fog. But finally, on February 14th, my eyes opened, and the fight to stay alive and regain all that was lost began. It was a HARD place to be, and I had already been through many hard places in my sixty years of circling the earth. But this was a new hard place. This rock almost crushed me. I remember asking my son Tyson to play me the song "Come On." by Brooke Poindexter. If you've never heard it, it's worth looking it up on YouTube. It became my last cord on the rope to hang on to. The beginning lyrics, "I can feel the eyes of heaven, the angels and the saints, all who've gone before us surround us here today...If you listen close, you'll hear heaven cheering for me... Come on, Come on, Come on, Come on..." 

     It was as if I could hear Jesus and Todd and others even here on earth cheering me on from the sidelines, "Come on! You can do this. You can win! Don't quit, don't give up!" I also remember my son's voice as he grabbed my hand and said, "Come on, Mom, you can fight this; you can live!" Those might not have been his exact words, but that's the feeling I remember. So many pulling for me to "Come on!"

    This morning, as I reflect on all I've been through these last two years, I have to smile and say that in the crushing and hardness of those rocks, there was honey to give me strength. A sweetness that's only understood once you've passed through the crushing and the fight to carry on. So I made some happy waffles this morning and played Brooke's song, "Come On." I'm finding some honey in the rock. 

Come On

https://youtu.be/nCMDH2rjnOI

Another great song:  Honey in the Rock

https://youtu.be/UiApoXKRYFc

    

Because I Can

  I was out for a walk around the campground, walking the loop, I call it. Trying to get a little bit of exercise, playing music through my headphones to keep me walking at a good pace. Since I'm easily distracted and tend to slow down and lallygag, music helps me keep going, as I will walk in time with the music. As I was walking, a couple of young children who live here in the campground stopped and asked me, "Why are you walking?" Since this was the second lap around the campground, I'm sure they were wondering why I was walking by again. I responded, "Because I can." 

 I think back just barely two years ago, I wouldn't have been able to do this. I was either in a wheelchair or walking with a walker, trying to gain strength in my weakened limbs. You could hardly call it walking, it was more of a shuffle. But today, I can walk, so I do.

    It reminds me of a song I learned recently written by Tim Timmons. Part of the song says, "I'll praise You, not that I have to, not that I ought to, but that I may." 

    Praising the Lord should always be 'that I may" and let me add, 'that I can.'

  

  During some very dark days of my life, when I lifted my voice and sang praises to God. Someone asked me, "How can you sing at a time like this?" My response was, it's my lifeline, the only thing that's keeping me alive and going. It truly was a "that I may" time. Putting my focus on Jesus for even the length of a few songs, strengthened me just a little more to keep walking through the darkness that was all around me.  Psalms 34:1-4 "I will bless the LORD at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make its boast in the LORD; The humble shall hear of it and be glad. Oh, magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt His name together. I sought the LORD and He heard me and delivered me from all my fears."

Then Mary said, “Roger that!”

I recently heard someone use the phrase "Roger that."  My curious mind got to thinking.  I wonder where that phrase came from, and why.  So I did a little search online to discover the answer.  Roger is used in the US Military phonetic alphabet for the letter r.  It became equivalent to saying received.   Some have even stretched it to mean the acronym Received Order Given Expect Results.  

   Receiving an order and carrying it out almost seems nonexistent in the rebellious world we live in.  People seem more at home bucking orders than obeying them.  This happens from young children rebelling against their parents at every command to people undermining and not carrying out duties and commands at the workplace.

    I thought about the young girl Mary in the Bible.  What if she would have not received the message the angel brought her?  The story is told in Luke 1: 26-38.  An angel appears, which would be frightening to anyone.  He did have to tell her not to be afraid.  Be real. If an angel suddenly appeared, you'd be shaking a little too, and maybe let out a little screech of fear.   After the angel brought her the message, she only asked how this was gonna happen, not if it was going to happen, which would have been doubting.  After the angel explained to her further, her words are "Behold, the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word..."   That's a little old English for our ears, so let me put it in Kelley's version for today, "Wow! that's amazing! Incredible! Roger that! I’m your girl Lord, let it happen to me!"   Not a actual greek translation, but do you get the point?  Roger that!  Message received and I'm expecting the results to happen in my life.

    You and I  don't need an angel to appear to us with a message like Mary did. But every time we open up our Bibles God is wanting to speak to you and me.  Are you listening?  When you hear the message,  you need to answer, "Roger that."