Courage For Today

kids

The Power of Enlarging Your Steps

Strength

Sometimes, as a grandparent, I find myself doing things that I probably shouldn’t do.  I suppose it all boils down to love for the kids, but I think back on some of my adventures and suddenly realize that there is no way I would ever do some of the things I’ve done, if not for wanting to spend time with the grand-kids.

One of those questionable adventures occurred a couple of years ago at a local theme park.  The kids wanted to play on a rope course designed for children.  It was an exciting looking course filled with ropes, rope ladders, wooden beams and all sorts of things that would thrill a kid.  Like any good grandparent, I gave them permission to participate and off we went.  Only after getting to the entrance was I told the thrilling news that one of my grandchildren was too short to walk on the course without an adult.  I certainly couldn’t tell him “no” and allow him to sit and watch his big brother have a blast, so I agreed to walk the course with him.

The course started off fairly easy with simple and easy to navigate paths.  As the course progressed, the challenges got harder until eventually I found myself on a single strand of rope several feet above the ground with very little to hold on to.  Of course, the kids were far ahead of me.  They weren’t waiting for grandpa.  After some careful, step-by-step circus work, I was able to cross the more difficult single strand of rope and finish on a wooden platform where I could re-gain my composure.  After a few moments of resting, I managed to continue on to the next section of the course which involved much wider, wooden planks; much like a scaffolding or a ramp.  This was a piece of cake compared to the single wire I had earlier climbed.

God’s word says in Psalms 18, verse 36 says that HE has enlarged (or made wide) my steps so that I won’t slip.  How true this verse is in our everyday Christian lives.  God has a way of making things easy when the world views those same things as difficult.  God has a way of clearing a path for us when we see no way out.  You may be going through one of those times in your life when you feel like you’re walking a single tightrope.  Just remember, His Word promises that wider steps and a firm foundation are ahead of you.

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A Flicker of Hope Can Seem Like a Beacon

Faith

I’ve always loved to go camping.  There’s something about being in the outdoors in a tent or camper and enjoying nature.  Maybe it’s just the fact that you’re out of your “stuffy” house, or maybe it’s the thrill of being able to get dirty and grungy and it still be OK.  I know the food surely tastes better when cooked outside.  There’s nothing better to me than a Hot Dog on a stick cooked over a campfire.  OK, I better stop, I’m hungry already.

I remember one particular year, I volunteered to take a group of third through sixth graders to a group camp.  We did this every year and I always thoroughly enjoyed it and the kids did as well.  This camp was what was called a “pioneer” camp.  There was only water and an outhouse.  There was no electricity or other amenities.  The kids were having a blast—— until the sun went down.  It got dark.  Really, really dark.  I don’t know if you’ve ever been in a forest at night with no light, but it is pretty scary.  Every noise you hear from an owl hooting to a rustle in the leaves causes your imagination to run wild with thoughts of wild bears or wolves.  Of course, none of those creatures ever made an appearance, but it didn’t make our fear of the darkness any less scary.

All of the kids had a various array of flashlights as you could imagine.  They came in really handy when everything is pitch black.  One night, I had noticed that I had not seen one of the boys for quite a while and I began to worry that he may have wondered off or gotten lost.  I grabbed my own flashlight and began to walk off from the camp to search.  I can remember how I wish I had a brighter light.  How I wish I had a huge searchlight to light up the forest so I could see further off and find this camper more quickly.  Instead, all I had to rely on was my measly flashlight that could only shine out a short distance.  In fact, it could really only illuminate the next few steps in my path.  I tried shining the light out into the forest, but the light was not intense enough and it did no good.  However, when I shined the flashlight only at my feet or just slightly ahead, the light was bright and just what I needed.

I eventually found the camper just ahead, doing what boys do, exploring on his own without a care in the world.  We followed the path back to camp with our flashlights and survived the rest of the trip.

One of my favorite verses in the Bible is Psalms 119, verse 105 which says, “Your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.”  I’ve often questioned God why HE couldn’t show me the whole path?  Why couldn’t HE shine HIS light down the path and let me see what’s ahead?  I want to see more than just the steps in front of me.

Just like when I was searching for the lost camper, HIS Light and HIS direction is more intense and more powerful if you trust HIM to guide you step by step.   Whenever I look too far ahead, my focus and intensity lessens.  I lose sight of what I really need to be praying about and focusing on.  God wants our daily, constant devotion and the only way this can be accomplished is to focus step by step and have HIS Light shine on us with only the intense brightness HE can provide. Even though, at times, I wish I could have a beacon and see what’s coming; in reality, I’ll settle for the small lamp that forever keeps me focused on the next step at hand.

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Avoiding the Shortcut To Trouble

Encouragement

I loved the neighborhood our family lived in during my Elementary School years.  Now, granted, this was in the 1960’s and times have changed, but it was a wonderful time and place.  All the neighborhood kids knew each other; even the parents knew each other.  We couldn’t get into too much trouble because other parents would call my parents and—well—–the rest was history as they say.  Times have certainly changed.  Most of us don’t even know our neighbor’s names today.

We would stay outside and play from sun-up to sun-down.  It was football, then basketball, then we would “play army,” then we might ride our bikes complete with baseball cards clipped to the spokes so we would sound like motorcycles.  No video games for us.  We had to entertain ourselves and didn’t ever seem to have any difficulty doing so.

One of the things my friends and I loved to do was walk from my house to a Shopping Center that was behind our neighborhood.  Occasionally, we got our hands on a shiny new Quarter or sometimes a Dime and you would have thought we had a million dollars.  At that time, a Dime or Quarter would buy a week’s supply of Pixie Stix or Hubba Bubba or Milk Duds, or maybe a Nutty Buddy or Eskimo Pie.  No one during those times had any reservations about letting a group of kids walk alone up to this Shopping Center for our shopping spree.

It was a fairly long walk from our house to the Shopping Center IF we walked the long way around on the major streets.  We soon discovered that there was a narrow storm drainage ditch that ran between two houses in the neighborhood that miraculously opened up in the back of the Shopping Center.  We would cut through this drainage ditch and be at the Shopping Center much quicker.  All we had to do was walk around to the front of the buildings and we were there!! Suddenly, the “shortcut,” as we called it, was the greatest discovery since Lewis and Clark went West.  You would have thought we had discovered Gold.  Being able to get to the all important Shopping Center within a few short minutes, as opposed to taking 45 minutes, when we walked the long route, was life changing for Elementary School kids.

It wasn’t very long after our great discovery that we began realizing the “shortcut” may not have been as great of a discovery as we first thought.  We began getting scratched by briers and cut by broken glass.  We sometimes ran into stray animals and neighborhood “bullies” who hid in the bushes waiting for us.  We tripped and fell. We soon became faced with a decision of whether we wanted to take our chances with the “shortcut,” not knowing what was lurking for us, just to save a few minutes, or go ahead and take the safer route, even though it was much longer.  Most of us chose the longer, safer route.  It just wasn’t worth the trouble.

Our Christian life is much the same way, or at least mine has been at times.  I tried to take the shortcut with my prayer life and only began praying when I thought I needed prayer.  I slowly realized that I couldn’t take a shortcut with my prayer life.  I tried to read my Bible only occasionally, mostly on Sunday’s when the Pastor asked us to.  I slowly realized that I needed God’s Word every day, not just once a week.  I discovered that there are no shortcuts with God.  He wants our all, ALL the time.  When we take shortcuts with God, danger is only a short distance behind.

Is your Christian Life taking too many shortcuts?  You can change that starting today.

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Praying on the Mountaintops

Encouragement

I’m talking a literal mountaintop here.  Our family decided to visit beautiful Gatlinburg, Tennessee one fall weekend.  We liked to go there occasionally for the shopping and food and, of course, the beautiful mountain scenery.  It was always relaxing to get away from the hustle and bustle of Atlanta and enjoy everything that Gatlinburg and, its sister city, Pigeon Forge had to offer.

One of the popular attractions in Gatlinburg is what is called Ober Gatlinburg.  Basically, it is an amusement area at the top of a particular mountain which offers snow skiing; ice skating; etc.  It sounded like a fun place to visit especially for our children who were not nearly as excited at looking at mountains and the changing leaf colors as my wife and I were.

There were two ways to reach the top of the mountain.  You could drive your car to the top, or you could ride a cable car from the City of Gatlinburg at the bottom of the mountain to the top of the mountain.  Riding Cable Cars is not something that is on my “to-do” list so I voted for the first option.  We climbed into the family car and drove the winding mountain roads to the top of the mountain. It seemed like forever, but in reality it wasn’t really that far.  By then, the kids were excited and wanting to climb out the car windows.  They couldn’t wait to lace on a pair of skates or skis.  Unfortunately, when we arrived to the top of the mountain, there was no place to park our car.  The lots were full.  So, I had a brilliant idea.  I asked my wife to drop me and the kids off at the entrance to Ober Gatlinburg.  I would go ahead and be paying for what we were going to do, get the kids all ready, and in the meantime she could drive back down the mountain; park in town; and catch the cable car back to the top of the mountain.  She wasn’t scared of heights so I knew that wasn’t an issue with her.  Everyone agreed, so off I went with the kids and off my wife went down the mountain.  After 30 minutes or so, she arrived back to the top of the mountain and found us at the ice skating rink and all was good.

Then it hit me.

How was I going to get back down the mountain without riding the cable car?  All of a sudden, ice skating didn’t seem fun anymore.

We did have a good time at the top of the mountain and I was sad to see the time end.  Not because I was having that much fun, but because I knew I had to ride the cable car down the mountain.  Finally, the moment of truth came and it was time to leave.  We bought our cable car tickets and climbed on board.  I immediately went to the center of the cable car and held on to the large pole in the center of the car as if that was going to make me feel safer.  The ride to the bottom seemed like an eternity.  I think I aged 10 years on that ride, but we finally made it and it couldn’t have been quick enough.

I can remember literally praying all the way down the mountain.  Praying to the Lord that the cable wouldn’t snap and that we wouldn’t fall.  Trying to convince God that I was too young to die and I had a wife and two young children and that it wouldn’t be fair for me to have it all end this way, by crashing into a mountainside.  Don’t laugh, you’ve been there too.

As I think back on that incident, I realized a simple lesson that I still struggle with today.  I realized that I don’t usually have an issue praying to God during an emergency or crisis.  I think most of us are probably like that.  We like to think we’re in control of everything in our lives and only when we can’t fix things any better do we turn to God.  I am constantly reminding myself to do as the Bible says and pray without ceasing, not just in the bad times, but in the good times as well.

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