Well, let’s go three for three and end this week with
another morning story! My daily routine
starts about 7:30 when I roll out of bed, immediately start speaking out the
Word of God, check on my sleeping wife, pull up the covers, turn on the heater
and then get myself ready for the day. From there Fiver and I plod down the
hallway into the living room where the dog stops, waits for me to pet him and
then jumps up on the couch to catch a few more zzz’s while I open up the
sliding window drapes and step into the kitchen.
In the kitchen I get the coffee going and prepare Piper’s
liquid medications. Once that task is complete
I move the three cups to the dining room table, turn on the computer, click the
Pandora tab and go back to the living room to open up the front blinds. Then
with a nod to the dog, the two of us head back down the hall to get Piper up.
About fifteen minutes later, after I have confessed our
regular healing scriptures verbally over Piper and get her up and ready for the
day, I lift her into her chair and we all go into the dining room where the
computer and external speakers are filling the front rooms with soft Christian
music playing styles from 1970-80’s Second Chapter of Acts to modern day
Southern Gospel and current contemporary bands.
As I began assisting my wife with her first apple cider and
medicine mixture today, I heard Steven Curtis Chapman’s song “The Great Adventure” come on the
radio. I really enjoy the way the song
captures the listeners attention from the very start complete with the opening
guitar licks and the word’s, ♫ “Saddle up your horses!”♪
That beginning and the chorus a few moments later got my
mind to wandering from Piper riding horses, to the mountains and then to our
many past camping adventures:
♪ “Saddle up your
horses, we've got a trail to blaze
Through the wild blue
yonder of God's amazing grace
Let's follow our leader
into the glorious unknown
This is a life like no
other, whoa whoa this is the great adventure” ♫ *
For some reason I began to recall all the tents we’ve used
for all those outdoor adventures, from my folks old green canvas tent, their
newer yellow and blue canvas tent I got for them when I worked in the sporting
goods department at Sears in the early 1970’s, and then Piper’s and my first
new six man blue nylon tent and our of course the huge two compartment blue and
white nylon tent we purchased in the 1990’s… and still have today!
As we progressed to Piper’s send concoction of medicine and
strawberry yogurt, I thought of a recent picture I had come across over the
holidays of a camping trip we took with the rest of my family to Richardson
Grove State Park on the southernmost border of Humboldt County in the redwoods
of northern California. What came to
mind in particular this morning was when we got up the second day and noticed
that our ice chest and lantern had been stolen out of the campsite during the
evening!
When we reported it to the Ranger on duty he stated that
there had been a rash of burglaries around the campgrounds that night. It actually wasn’t too traumatic for us since
most the food supplies for the weekend were stored with my parents in their
trailer. Our ice chest only had milk, a
few baby bottles and other food stuffs for our baby JoAnna! So, we just made a trip to the nearby town
off Garberville, bought a polyurethane ice chest and restocked all of the items
taken. I purchased a new lantern the
next summer from a sporting goods store back home! (and
since that trip I always made sure all those items were locked away in our
vehicle before we turned in for the night!)
As I stepped back into our family memories today though, I
began to think of how the ice chest that would have normally been stuffed with
a block of ice and enough food to feed our family for five days and our bright
Coleman lantern kind of symbolize a foundation for our camping needs. The food being our very sustenance and the
lantern as our light guiding us in the darkness of the evening.
That thought made me think about the verses in James that I
was reading yesterday during my morning study time. James 1:5-8 talk about when we need to ask
God for wisdom that we do so without any doubt for, “A person who has doubts shouldn't expect to receive anything from the
Lord. A person who has doubts is thinking about two different things at
the same time and can't make up his mind about anything.” (James 1:7-8
God’s Word ©)
As I meditated on those verses I suddenly realized how
detrimental doubt really is to a Believer, for doubt is a thief of our
faith. And without missing a beat I
understood that in reality, those who immediately criticized the steps we took
in faith as we began to fight in earnest the attack on Piper’s health were
actually (most likely unknowingly)
attempting to put doubt in our minds as to the physical path we had begun to
follow and thereby steal our faith!
I like the way The Voice translation puts verse eight
declaring: “The splinter of divided
loyalty shatters your compass and leaves you dizzy and confused.” I have to
say that I did feel confused but not with our faith in which we felt
pretty dedicated and confident with, but confused as to the other individuals
reactions. I guess I could honestly say
that “I didn’t see that one coming!”
Romans 10:17 tells us “So
faith comes from hearing the message, and the message that is heard is what
Christ spoke.” (God’s Word ©) And
just like the thief who took our chest of sustenance and our light to see in
the dark during that camping trip, the doubt cast in our direction concerning
our steps of faith were trying to take away the foundation of our stand. According to Romans 10:17, they were
attempting to get us to listen to different message than that which Christ
spoke to us through His Word.
Ah
Ha… another reason for getting our daily dose of fresh
anointing of God’s Word into our hearts each morning! We may not have understood back in 2009 that the
thief (See: John 10:10) was trying to steal the beginning steps of our faith
for Piper’s healing, but we were secure enough in God’s love and the promises
He gave us in His Word, that we did not allow ourselves to ever question what
we KNEW He was instructing us to do.
So, what will it be for you? Will you keep your heart and life topped up
with daily doses of God’s Word so as to ward off the thief who masterfully
tries to steal your faith… or will you be caught off-guard? Yea… I know, easy answer… now we just got to
do it!
Have a great weekend, and as you do keep asking yourself… “What message am I expecting to listen to in
order to guard my faith today?”
*http://www.metrolyrics.com/the-great-adventure-lyrics-steven-curtis-chapman.html
*http://www.metrolyrics.com/the-great-adventure-lyrics-steven-curtis-chapman.html
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