Dry Land

 "As for you, lift up your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, and the sons of Israel shall go through the midst of the sea on dry land."  Exodus 14:16

There they stood staring at the waters in front of them.  There was no way to go.  They were fleeing for the lives from a military indignant in their anger and now pinning them against an impassable body of water.

Their answer came when God told Moses to raise his staff, the waters parted, and they were given dry land. The solution God gave them wasn't a footbridge. It wasn't the ability to walk on water.  The answer to their problem was dry land. 

Dry land. The very mention of it brings to mind pictures of dust or dead crops or desert or thirst or sweltering heat.  Yet here God uses dry land to bring His people closer to the Promised Land.

Ever feel that way Beloved?
Living in the difficult and you pray and you cry out and you plead only to be given ... dry land.

"But God, I thought you'd give me abundant waters.  This is dry land."
"God, I asked you to bring healing.   This is dry land."
"Lord, I thought you'd make it all go away.  This is dry land."

In faith and obedience, the Israelites took their steps onto dry land.  They moved forward.  And you know what was waiting for them on the other side?  More dry land.  But that which angrily pursued them was gone.

Their journey through the dry land brought many lessons, much growth and it eventually brought them home to a land of abundance.

Take courage my friends.
Our journey is long. 
Our journey is hard.

We struggle, we scream, we cry.
The tired is etched on our face.
We hunger for fellowship.
We search for all that is good and true.
We long for the Living Water to quench our parched throats.

This is our today.
It is not our tomorrow.

We have a home waiting for us in a land of abundance, filled with all things good and surrounded in breathtaking glory where God Himself will wipe our tears.

But first, dry land.

Tattered

I slept in; giving me a much later start than normal.  Pulling in to town, I drive the main street to where I will start my run.

A group of 30 men are walking in formation; some in fatigues, some in camo, some in shorts and tee shirts.  All are carrying a flag. They are laughing among themselves.  I honk and wave as I drive by. They wave and yell.

I park my car and begin my run.

In a few hours a Freedom Parade would be rolling through town. A parade of nothing more than people driving their cars boasting their pride of our nation.

As my miles clicked by, more cars and trucks drive by with American flags flying in the wind.

Hot rods and daily drivers.
Farm trucks and show trucks.
Motorcycles and scooters.
Old, young, black and white.
Republican and Democrat.

Today isn't about policy or change or politics.
Today is about celebrating the freedoms we have no matter what our opinions.

I pause to take this picture.
A tattered Old Glory flying high above the cars gathering below.

Running back to my car, I think about that flag.
Her frayed edges show her wear as if she feels the turbulence of the current times.
One can see Lady Liberty take a haggard breath.
Yet the flag still flies.

Today, maybe now more than ever, we celebrate the flag and for all it stands.
Freedom.  Strength.  Courage.
The edges may be frayed, but we the people, will take our bruised and battled hands and raise you.

We the people, will always fly you.

 

Green Pastures & Still Waters

When my kids were little - and not so little - I would make them sit down and do their homework.  However, most times it became apparent I could not "make" them do anything.  

I could regulate them to the table, but I could not make them work.
I could punish them, but I could not make them complete their assignments.

And so the battle began.
One fighting in authority, the other fighting in independence.
Two Alphas with locked horns over a battle of wills and neither conceding despite the exhaustion.

Locked horns look different for everyone.  Maybe your horns are locked with a child, a parent, a spouse or a boss.  Maybe the Alpha you fight is an industry or a company or a system of injustice.  Maybe your fight is within, battling anxiety or depression or worry.

Your horns are locked and you are fighting with every ounce of your being.
We are all struggling right now.  Each and every one of us.  

Which brings me here; staring at the pasture in front of me. The words from Psalm 23 come to mind.

He makes me lie down in green pastures,
He leads me beside still waters,
He restores my soul.

"God, help me.  I'm tired of this fight."

"Lie down in the green pasture."

"God, I'm a little too busy in this fight to lie down.  Help me in the fight."

"I am.  Lie down."

"Can't you see I'm right?  Can't you see the fight I'm in?  I am tired God and can't do this on my own.  You need to help me."

"Beloved, this isn't your fight.  The struggle is yours, but the fight is Mine.  Lie down in the green pasture.  It isn't a request."

He MAKES me lie down in green pastures.
God knows my burden.  He knows my weary.  
And the answer is to lie down in the green pasture.  In the abundance of the field I am fed, I am nourished, I am given rest.

You see friends, it is after time in the pasture that one is strengthened enough to be led. It is then  when He leads us to the still waters; those life-giving, soul-quenching still waters.  We must recharge and strengthen ourselves before we can begin the journey to the water.

For it is at the still waters where He restores our soul.
He doesn't fix it.  He doesn't mend it. 
He restores it.

But first, He makes us lie down in green pastures.

Lie down friends.
Find His abundance in the pasture in front of you.