Traveling to new places can be exciting, exhilarating, and exuberant. It can also be daunting, especially when your phone doesn’t work. One of my mother’s friends said, before my trip to the Philippines, that he couldn’t even find the airport in his home town, much less one 7000 miles away. Trust me, there were many times when I was praying, a lot. Especially when I arrived and couldn’t find my host family. Turned out, United had started using a different terminal in Manilla 3 days before my arrival.
Trusting God, and walking with him can be very similar. That is why it is important to know God’s voice. To be able to hear it when the noises of life are deafening. The only way to get good at it is to practice e, a lot! It doesn’t come easy because we are used to listening to ourselves or to others. The best way to know God’s voice is to know God. To know his word as well. That way when his Spirit whispers into your spirit, you will know it’s him.
When you get this practice into your life, you and God can go anywhere with ease and have many great adventures together. Rom. 8:14 For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. (NIV)
Copyright © 2018 Mark Brady, All rights reserved
On a recent trip to the Philippines, I saw a lot of life I had never seen before. I experienced several new things as food, phrases, and culture. One thing that I couldn’t help but notice was the local rival to McDonalds, Jollibee. It has what McDonalds has as well a local favorite, chicken with rice and gravy.
I was going through my father’s papers the other day. I had to keep some of them, but most of them were old records about his life that were no longer of value, so I shredded them. While going through that process I thought about a man’s life, and the summation of it all. Is the end result a bag of shredded documents? I hope not.
I have always said, “I would rather be one mile behind God than one inch in front of him!” But recently, I feel as though I am trying to catch my breath doing my best to keep up with him. It’s as if I am running late to the party, God has been inviting me to all year. I just didn’t see it. He was orchestrating a new season in my life, and I didn’t even notice him hanging the decorations.
Like clothing, put on love before leaving the house. Others will appreciate it.
I was looking for my leftover Christmas cards when I came across a Father’s Day card that never got sent this year, because he passed the previous month. It caused me to pause and think about words unsaid.
I once had a neighbor, who on the way to the hardware mega store asked, “Why are you so different?” I had helped them with several needs after they had moved into their new home. He asked, I told him. The truth appealed to him and his wife, and they accepted Jesus.
A friend once invited me to Thanksgiving. When I accepted her invitation she replied, “Great! At least now we’ll have a turkey!”
“God, I want to walk with you.”
One of the hardest decisions to make, after having your heart ran through a shredder, is to try again. You have said, “No way!” “I could never trust again.” “I can’t take the chance, or I never want to feel that kind of pain again!”
brady, mark a. 