Press On!

For some reason, I was thinking in the shower this morning, that my wife and I were never ones to let the grass grow under our feet… especially when it came to our faith walk.  I believe that this was one of the aspects of our lives that differentiated us from others in our extended families… on both sides.  But I also believe that it was partially because God had placed in us… individually and then together… a pioneering spirit.

Like I’ve stated many times, we’d never been one’s to be armchair quarterbacks or sit quietly in the crowd when it came to the things of God.  While others may have drifted towards a more stationary lifestyle as they progressed in life, we tended to look for new adventures within the kingdom off God. 

Yesterday was one of those days when I needed to not stay stationary with the way things were being dealt out to me, but felt the need to PRESS ON toward whatever goals the Lord had for me that day and in this new chapter of my life as well.   I finally received a certified copy of my birth certificate from the County Clerks office in our home county back in California earlier in the week and packed it and all the other ID’s and paperwork I needed to transfer my Driver’s License and headed off to the local DMV just a few blocks away in the historic downtown area of Broken Arrow.

I had been there a few days previously but the place was packed and had decided to give it a much earlier start which was happening yesterday.  I had also checked out the website on multiple occasions and could not find a place to make an appointment.  So, in I went and faced a packed room with less than stellar air conditioning.  After punching the start button on the self-sign-in kiosk, the first question that popped up was: “Do you have an appointment?” 

This day was going south at a rapid pace as I already had a headache and the stale, hot air in the room wasn’t helping… so… I praised the Lord, put on my happy face and pushed the “No” button.  Then it asked me what I was there for and spit out a receipt with a long number printed on it, along with the instructions to have a seat and they would call me in turn.  When I slumped down into one of only a few empty seats, I read the rest of the information on the receipt and It stated that they could not guarantee that they would even be able to service my needs that day without a reservation… okay… maybe my happy face began to fad a bit… then the gal sitting next to me shared that she’d already been there since the place opened almost 2 hours ago and there were multiple people ahead of her…

I found myself in my car a few moments later, enjoying the air conditioner and doing my best to keep the words that were coming from my mouth to be encouraging in their nature!  Once home, I switched projects, swallowed a few Excedrin’s and called the Oklahoma office of my health insurance company.  Well… let’s just say that this experience wasn’t much better than the results at the DMV.  I won’t go into the whole story but they don’t offer the same plans they did in North Carolina, told me what they did offer and I replied with a word of thanks and informed them that I’d let them know… Then I called Medicare and as told the wait would be… way too long than I was willing to wait at that time! 

So, I retreated to one of the La-Z-Boy recliners near the front windows with my journal, Bible, Bible study notebook and the current Christian teaching book I am reading.  By that time, I REALLY wasn’t a happy camper, but was also determined to push on to receive God’s best for me that day!  Therefore, the reading, praying, note-taking and a short nap helped immensely!  

Philippians 4:13 instructs us to “press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” (KJV)  I NEEDED to stop the spiral I was falling into and make the effort to reach for that prize at that moment in my day.  I NEEDED to press through the headache, the disappointment, the frustration and a tinge of anger at the way things had unfolded that morning.  It definitely wasn’t what I was expecting!

So, I turned the table on the negative events by turning to God and His Word!  Genius heh?  Not really… it’s just what we Christians are supposed to do… but many times tend to forget in the midst of the turbulence!  But you know?  When we FINALLY do it and submit to His will… it works!  Things change for the better in our behalf!  I received a call a little while later from my daughter who, along with our granddaughter, were coming over to help me look at housing and neighborhoods in one the smaller, more rural towns nearby.

Well, being with them helped to turn my frown around… and we also found some promising prospects for my new home in Oklahoma!  I had been looking at neighborhoods around Broken Arrow and wasn’t finding homes that excited me within my price range.  But the rural areas that we looked at yesterday reminded me of our location in NC (minus the tall pines and mountains, but pretty in their own mid-America regard…) with the quiet surroundings, less traffic and lots of greenery and open fields.

By the time we returned to my apartment, enjoyed some ice-cream and watched Sarah water paint… I was past the yuck of the morning, had tuned into family fun and was happily encouraged by the various neighborhoods we looked at.  So, who says your day that starts off less than promising has to stay that way?  All it takes is a little bit of faith, a little bit of energy… okay… maybe more than just a little… and the desire to push through the yuck and PRESS into the goodness and faithfulness of God.  And once again… I couldn’t help but exclaim the familiar statement that my kids grew up with as Piper and I moved from one faith adventure to another, saying: “This stuff REALLY works!”

Have a wonderful weekend as you PRESS ON into the encouraging Word of God for your life!  I’ve got some research planned on different Real Estate websites for the properties we viewed yesterday… so as I am getting excited about finding out what God has for me out here, say along with me… “I am expecting to find God’s best for me, right now and right here!”