Sing, Shout and Leap!

It is hard for me to believe that we are into our fourth day of fall already!  It seems like summer just began, and here we are thinking about trick or treat, pumpkins, hot apple cider, Thanksgiving and then Christmas!  I guess the one thing we can always be assured of in this life is that the different seasons of the year will always come and go no matter what else is happening around us!

I think that the same could be said for the different seasons in our lives!  I enjoyed this last summer here in North Carolina.  It seemed to me that it was a bit cooler and definitely not as humid as last year.  I can remember thinking back in July of all the summer projects I had and wishing that the nicer weather would continue so that I could complete them all!  Well, as it turn out, I got about half of them completed! 

The project I wanted to finish most was the first section of our raised bed garden.  As it got later and later into the summer I told Piper that I was still going to plant some veggies no matter when I got it finished!  And although I ended up planting some tomatoes and zucchini at the end of July and beginning of August, I have already harvested at least one zucchini and there are a multitude of tomatoes slowly ripening on the vines!

One of the many things I’ve picked up from my wife over the years is her uplifting efforts to pray for and enjoy the various seasons of our lives.  I can clearly recall her confession at the beginning of the holiday’s, school year, our kid’s life events, various church projects we led, and other important times in our lives that “this was going to be the best _____________ we have ever had!”  And you know… the memory of that confession helped us many a time when things weren’t going as well as we hoped, or we hit a snag, or just felt our energy waning. 

Throughout my life I have found myself in the same spot as the disciples did when they were rowing their boat across a lake when a storm suddenly came up.  Previous to this, Jesus had commanded the disciples to go on ahead of Him at the end of a long day of preaching to a huge crowd of hungry listeners while He stayed behind to dismiss the crowd and then find some solitude in prayer with His heavenly Father.

Matthew 14:24 takes up the story explaining, “Meanwhile, the boat (that the disciples were traveling in) was far out to sea when the wind came up against them and they were battered by the waves.” (The Message)  I found it interesting as I read this today, that the disciples were right in the middle of doing EXACTLY what Jesus had told them to do when the storm came up.  John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible tells us that “the Syriac and Persic versions say, it was "many furlongs from land"; and the Arabic expressly says, "about twenty five furlongs": which account seems to be taken from John 6:19…”

It looks to me that by the time the storm came up, the disciples were well committed to their course of action and could not turn back at that time.  Have you ever been in a situation like that?  I sure have…  In fact it happened to me just the other night when I was helping my wife to get ready for bed.  She was extremely weak that night and to be honest, my strength was waning more than usual!  As I sat on my knees and took off her shoes, I suddenly felt totally drained and leaned back thinking that I didn’t know if I had the strength or not to finish the job and gently get her into the bedroom and bed.

But, as I sat there and looked up at her thin countenance, I reached deep inside and verbally proclaimed that there was no one else to help me at the moment and I HAD to complete the task at hand!  I also reminded myself that if Papa God thought me to be able to take care of my sweet wife, then He could give me the strength to make it through THIS night.  (I’ve learned to take this ONE day at a time!)

Then I remembered Nehemiah 8:10 and how “The Joy of the Lord is our strength” (KJV personalized) and began to sing that simple children’s song declaring that “the joy of the Lord is my strength” and then the funny verses that we sang countless times throughout the years of children’s ministry: “If you want joy you must SING for it (la la), If you want joy you must SHOUT for it, if you want joy you must LEAP for it…” ♫  although I must admit that I didn’t leap at that point like we would have done in Children’s Church but I did burst out laughing at the antics going on in our bathroom that night… and miraculously discovered that I had the strength to finish my responsibilities for the evening!

I looked up how far 25 furlongs would be in miles and it comes to about 3.25 miles.  So, they were a ways into it… but they kept going and didn’t turn around.  Yea they may have panicked and screamed when they saw Jesus walking on the water thinking it was an eerie apparition (most of us might have done the same thing!)… but they kept rowing toward their destination!

And Jesus came into their boat, met their need and they completed that part of their mission so that they could help Jesus minister to ALL the sick in the land of Gennesaret on the other side of the lake… EXACTLY where Jesus had told them to go!

So what do you think?  How many times have you found yourself so far into a project that you couldn’t stop or couldn’t go back and had no choice but to suck-it-up and complete the task at hand?  When that happens, I’ve found that the best thing to do is to follow the example of the disciples on that early morning adventure many years ago…

Scream?  NO!  Invite Jesus into your boat!  His presence has the tendency to immediately calm things down and give you the strength to go on!

Hummm… I like that idea!  What about you?  Have a good week, and as you do, keep asking yourself… What am I expecting to do when it looks like I don’t have the strength or ability to go on?