Waiting on God's timing, plan and truly believing that when we make the plans God Himself directs your steps is quite the challenge. I think living in the bible belt so much of the Christian walk can be summed up on a cute cross stitched pillow or firey bumper sticker. Living here you can never be to far from a screaming preacher at a commonly congested intersection, but to dig deep in the inner well is a completely solitary matter all together.
As a person who has wanted to be a parent for so long, the path we have traveled to get children in our home was something we never ever imagined. We made the decision to start the steps to becoming adoptive parents last January. We began our parenting class last April and this past October we encountered 3 children who were in need of a foster home. Again I will say I never saw this in our plans, I never purposed for this or made the plans for it. Yet the choice was there to turn one direction and ignore the need before us in the face of our own wants and desires or have our steps directed in a path that we did not plan for. Though our steps were made before us Father God gave us the choice to take them. I think that's what makes this Christian walk an adventure.
The father doesn't throw us to the wolves and say live or die.
He lays those steps before us and we make the choice to walk step to step. This walk has all matter of ways to configure how one step gets to another; just look in the Christian living section of a bookstore or at the many a sermons of different denominational varieties. Some have a 1, 2, 3 method and it all sounds so fool proof but oh how we forget our sheepish nature. On sheep 101 the instinct sheep have to follow is interesting
"sheep have a strong instinct to follow the sheep in front of them. When one sheep decides to go somewhere, the rest of the flock usually follows, even if it is not a good "decision." For example, sheep will follow each other to slaughter. If one sheep jumps over a cliff, the others are likely to follow. Even from birth, lambs are conditioned to follow the older members of the flock. This instinct is "hard-wired" into sheep. It's not something they "think" about."
When I think about the constant barrage on television, radio, billboards and magazines about what it takes to have a successful life it's like sheep following each other to the slaughter. Commercials never say o.k. stop and think about this, selah. If we just stop long enough to see just that one step that directs us we will find the adventure that is faith. Taking the time to listen and pause is the antithesis of our fast paced task orientated Western culture. Even in Christian service we can miss those moments to pause; you can miss the step provided because service can consume the quietness. Jesus said if you choose to "lose your life for him you will find it" meaning if you chose to serve him, if you chose those moments to take those steps that aren't what you have planned you will find the which will keep your well full.
I salute my pastor and his wife for taking time to unplug literally and find that next step that leads to the next dance. May your next dance be the dance of life and freedom.
