JULY 10, 2016

“We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.” 
― Plato

PSALM 1-3

David cries out to God while being pursued by his son Absolom...

1Lord, how many are my foes!

How many rise up against me!

2Many are saying of me,

“God will not deliver him.”^b

3But you, Lord, are a shield around me,

my glory, the One who lifts my head high.

4I call out to the Lord,

and he answers me from his holy mountain.

5I lie down and sleep;

I wake again, because the Lord sustains me.

6I will not fear though tens of thousands

assail me on every side.

ACTS 16:1-15

Paul meets Timothy and takes him along on his journey...

1Paul came to Derbe and then to Lystra, where a disciple named Timothy lived, whose mother was Jewish and a believer but whose father was a Greek. 2The believers at Lystra and Iconium spoke well of him. 3Paul wanted to take him along on the journey, so he circumcised him because of the Jews who lived in that area, for they all knew that his father was a Greek. 4As they traveled from town to town, they delivered the decisions reached by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem for the people to obey. 5So the churches were strengthened in the faith and grew daily in numbers.

JOURNAL 

Wow! Here the juxtaposition of the old testament and new are startling...David is running from his son Abloom and Paul meets his "son in the spirit" Timothy.  It is in these moments that I see and know that the ways of God are so perfect but yet far above and beyond my own. 

To question him is silly...it really makes no sense. Most of the time it comes out of fear and in response to feeling alone and at risk. It is in these moments that the fight or flight response comes over me and I want relief from it. I revert to doing things that distract me instead of leaning into it and feeling it and learning from it. This is part of life...if I numb it and don't embrace it then I miss a chunk of life. If I let fear deter me from embracing tough moments then I am diverting from the path laid out for me that day. The diversion can and will wound me greater than most any circumstance I fear because it robs my spirit.

25“All this I have spoken while still with you. 26But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. 27Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

 ~ JOHN 14:25-27