Friday, October 27, 2023
I will lead
blind Israel down a new path, guiding them along an unfamiliar way. I will brighten the darkness before them and
smooth out the road ahead of them. Yes,
I will indeed do these things; I will not forsake them. Isaiah 42:16
In 1981 Elizabeth and I stood in a chapel service at seminary, along with
1,200 other students and faculty. The preacher had extended a call to
follow Christ in mission without reserve – no matter where it was God wanted us
to go, and despite whatever conditions we would encounter. Even the song we sang was
Wherever He Leads, I’ll Go. We responded to that call,
promising to do just that!
Now, it’s great to have a mountaintop experience when you’re headed for
the valley; it helps you remember and hold-onto what (and Who) your focus
should be. At
that time, our vision of serving Christ as a pastoral family was kind of
a Norman Rockwell painting – a snapshot, frozen in time, with pastor, wife and
three kids. Thirty years later we were supposed to still be in the same
location, having developed loving relationships with the same people in the
same town. Those plans were MY plans!
In our naivety, however, we never
imagined that the plans and pathway of ministry could change so dramatically
and so often!
Fast forward forty-two years, eleven churches, nine grandchildren, and
four great-grandchildren….Elizabeth and I are just a few months into full
retirement, having completed another first (and only) year with a new church
family. For the last four decades we’ve
lived finding out how life turns on a dime! There have been moments when we felt like the
tree in the picture…uprooted, laid-down to rot.
But in those times, as we waited for God to make sense for us out of challenging
and changing circumstances, new growth was always the result!
The Lord has led us into different (and unexpected) places, but His Word
has never varied, His promises always faithfully-true, and we have been blessed
more than if our plans had been followed to the
letter. Truth be told, I’m glad God used
His plans instead of mine.
I planned to continue writing this devotional in retirement until
God offered a new path on which to grow and serve. I believe that time is here, and it is time
for that new path. So, to be obedient to
our original promise to follow wherever He leads, for us future ministry
will be focused in two ways:
1.
Helping
in the local church where Elizabeth and I worship
2.
Taking
the lessons I’ve learned (and sometimes just survived as they unfolded)…and
forming them into some pages that will (hopefully) be an encouragement for pastors
who are just starting-out, or looking to refocus for the next season.
In Isaiah’s words, I feel like blind Israel with God taking
me by the hand to show me a new pathway.
But that is the exciting nature of being a follower of Jesus Christ in a
changing universe. Like the tree in the
picture, it looks like it is over, done…totally-finished. But God specializes in bringing new life
where death thought it was going to be in charge.
When God plants a vineyard there’s going to be fruit!
For You Today
If you’re new to Rocky Road, or if
you’ve been there since May 7, 2013, when it started, thank you for your interest,
prayers, and encouragement to me along the way.
May God bless you to be a fruitful blessing to others is our prayer.
There are about 2,600 devotional posts and 400 sermons
in the Rocky Road library.
Today’s title Image from a friend’s Facebook page
(original source unknown)
Images without citation are in public domain or cited
via weblinks.
Unless noted, Scripture quoted from NLT©
