READY TO RIDE

DAY 81:  We are an amusement park family.  Specifically, we are a roller coaster family; but it wasn't always so.  When my kids were young, one of them was terrified about the idea of getting on a coaster - even a kiddie coaster.  While the rest of the family climbed aboard for the best thrill of the day, I usually stayed behind on the park benches with my daughter.  She absolutely would not consider going.  It just looked too scary.

"Honey we will be right beside you. You won't be going alone.  You can sit in the car with daddy."

Even with the promise that we would be right beside her to guarantee she would be safe, she would have none of it.  For several years, she choose to sit and wait for up to an hour on the park bench while her dad and brothers braved the the hairpin turns, daring drops and loop-the-loops.  Then one year, when her dad offered as he always did to take her on the coaster she said, "I'm ready now.  I'll go."

And with that, her bench sitting days were over.  She is now a roller-coaster lover. If only she had mustered the courage sooner she could have enjoyed the ride sooner and saved herself a lot of anxiety.  But sometimes we just insist on taking the long way around when we could have had the shortcut.

At the end of their 40 year journey in the wilderness Israel was reminded that they too could have had a shortcut. As Deuteronomy 1 opens, and the nation is standing at the threshold of the Promised Land, they are reminded that they had been there once before. 

² Normally it takes only eleven days to travel from Mount Sinai^[b] to Kadesh-barnea, going by way of Mount Seir. ³ But forty years after the Israelites left Egypt, on the first day of the eleventh month,^[c] Moses addressed the people of Israel, telling them everything the Lord had commanded him to say.

Eleven Days!! The journey they were intended to take from Mount Sinai to the doorway of the promised land was only ELEVEN DAYS!  Yet there they were, 40 years later, finally at the place they could have been so long ago.  Moses wanted to make sure they remembered why it had taken so long.  It was because they refused to follow God and get on the ride with Him- to trust Him .  All those years ago He had told them to get on board, buckle up for a breathtaking ride, an unforgettable adventure, and go into the land  and conquer it. The best part was that God had promised to go with them.

²⁶ But you rebelled against the command of the Lord your God and refused to go in.²⁷ You complained. . . "Our brothers have demoralized us with their report. They tell us, “The people of the land are taller and more powerful than we are. . . "

²⁹ “But I (Moses) said to you, ‘Don’t be shocked or afraid of them! ³⁰ The Lord your God is going ahead of you. He will fight for you, just as you saw him do in Egypt. ³¹ And you saw how the Lord your God cared for you all along the way as you traveled through the wilderness, just as a father cares for his child. Now he has brought you to this place.’
³² “But even after all he did, you refused to trust the Lord your God...

It took Israel 40 years to learn a lesson that God offered to teach them in eleven days.  They had already seen God do great things, but it wasn't enough.  Their fear was greater than their faith.  So they learned the hard way and lost a lot of time - something it was impossible to get back. 

God's lessons can be learned on short journey's or long ones.  More often than not, it's up to us just how long it takes.  For example, we can bristle and complain in a marriage for years; or we can believe God is in it with us and move forward faithfully.  We can hang on to bitterness reliving the hurt day after day, week after week and year after year; or we can save ourselves the time and take the grace God offers to harness forgive today.  We can spend so excessive time wondering if we are suppose to go through that open door of opportunity until it closes while we wait, or we can grab God's hand and step through with courage.  We can let fear of the unknown plant our feet in the here and now (even when here and now aren't so great) or we can take the plunge leaning on God for courage to follow where He is already going ahead of us.

You do the math:11 days or 40 years. OR WORSE: Some opportunities don't come again.  Remember, the adults who wouldn't get aboard when God commanded them the first time all died in the dessert.  They didn't get the specific second chance offered to their kids.  

I've missed a few open doors in my life.  They may not open again.  But God is faithful; I don't have to sit on the bench of regret forever. I know He will open other doors and I want to be sure I don't choose to sit when I could step through the door and take the ride. It might be scary. It might have lots of ups and downs.  But better to be on the unknown ride with God than sitting on the bench alone.

GOD HAS MANY MORE LESSONS TO TEACH; 

MY PRAYER IS THAT I LEARN THEM QUICKLY 

SO THAT I'M NOT ON THE BENCH

(OR IN THE DESERT)

ANY LONGER THAN I HAVE TO BE.

Day 81 of 365
Numbers 36
Deuteronomy 1
Luke 5:29-39
Luke 6:1-11
Psalm 66:1-20
Proverbs 11:24-26