Whodunit?

I discovered a free streaming channel the other day that airs three of my favorite Canadian TV programs.  As I thought about these programs and some of my other favorites, I realized that most all of them were police procedurals in some form or shape!  I guess I am a sucker for a good Whodunit… especially when I consider that most of the books that I read at night are also mysteries, thrillers and action-based stories!

I do have an inquisitive nature and enjoy a good research project… therefore, trying to figure out the culprit before the characters in the stories do… is always a fun challenge for me!  So, when a mystery popped up in my own life, I decided to put my sleuthing skills to work on a personal basis.  (I didn’t grow up on the Hardy Boys for nothing!)

Soon after my wife passed in 2018, while in a quiet time of prayer and Bible study, I felt the Lord impress the word “CONTINUE” into my heart.  I wasn’t quite sure what it was that He wanted me to CONTINUE, but quickly assumed that He wanted me to pick up the pieces and somehow CONTINUE on with my life after my devastating loss.

That assumption seemed to satisfy me for the moment, and I immediately began to seek the Lord’s directions for my future.  Most of the information I believed that He was giving me, seemed to outline short term plans, including the selling of our home in North Carolina and moving closer to our children who were now residing in Oklahoma and Tennessee... and regroup my life! 

It has been interesting to watch the hand of the Lord as the majority of His leadings have been the methodical unfolding of just one-step at a time… without a too distant glimpse into the future.

Lately though, the word “CONTINUE” has begun to enter into my thoughts on a more consistent basis!  So… with my lightning quick mind… it FINALLY hit me that the Lord was trying to exemplify a point to me… and I began to implore of Him exactly what it was that He wanted me to “CONTINUE.”

And as I stood in the shower that same morning and let the hot water beat down on my back, I thought of one of the common tools that all the characters in the police procedurals that I watched or read, used when trying to solve the mystery that they were working on… A Ha!  Elementary my dear Watson… the EVIDENCE or CRIME BOARD!  You know the one I’m talking about… the board where they write down and/or tape up all the evidence they have accumulated and list all the potential suspects in the case.

So, in my mind’s eye, I imagined a large mobile white board like Piper and I used in many of our Children’s Church classes, picked up my imaginary dry erase pen and began to list all of the things that were directly connected to me and my life throughout the various decades of my adult existence… beginning when I turned eighteen in 1970.

Now, it took many more sessions in thought beyond the shower that morning… but when I finally felt that the list was complete and mentally strung yarn to connect all the common threads of evidence, I realized that once Piper fell off the list at the end of the decade of the 2010’s, that the only COMMON THREAD left was the ever-increasing burning desire in me to:

“Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” (Matthew 6:33 – EMTV)

And once again I stopped and declared “A Ha!” and followed up with, “That is EXACTLY what the Lord has instructed me to ‘CONTINUE’ with in my life now that Piper is no longer at my side.”

That personal revelation to me clarified, confirmed and connected the dots to many of the random “hints” that I have received over the almost five years since that first impression I had to “CONTINUE”!  It also flooded my heart and my mind with the many remembrances of how the Lord has worked in my life throughout my past… and re-confirmed that even though my circumstances have drastically changed… God hasn’t… for as Hebrews 13:8 profoundly declares,

“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” (God’s Word ©) 

You see… the way that He has worked in the past for me… AND FOR YOU… He will “CONTINUE” to do for us… as we “CONTINUE” to do whatever it is that He has asked of us to do for Him.

What is it that He has asked YOU to “CONTINUE” to do for Him?  If you aren’t sure or maybe need some clarification… I might suggest that you find yourself something to use as an EVIDENCE BOARD and begin to list or attach on it all the pertinent facts… and then follow the COMMON THREAD that will give you the solution that you are seeking!

And…with all that PROOF staring you in the face… you’ll be able to successfully,

“Run straight toward the goal to win the prize that God's heavenly call offers in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:14 - God’s Word ©)

A Ha!  Sounds like an exciting Whodunit doesn’t it? 

Have a great rest of your week, and as you do… keep EXPECTING God’s BEST in your life!