This week a friend of mine made a decision I didn’t like. Have you ever been there? Now this decision will not have an effect on our friendship in the slightest, except it will keep us further in distance from each other. I am in no way angry with the decision from a personal standpoint, but from a “SELFISH” standpoint I am ticked. In other words, I love my friend and will continue to do so, but the decision brings separation and angst!
I was talking to my wife earlier in the week (before I learned of this decision) and my wife Jen gave me some incredible wisdom. Here it is:
In Numbers 16, 17, and 18; scripture goes from a place where over 15,000 people died because of a rebellious spirit, to a place where Aaron’s passion for God became the way that God provided for the temple and the priests. From death to provision! People were lost because of their attitudes, and then others became the gifts to God from others, which became the provision from God to others!
What an amazing story! As I type this, literally, I am seeing again the redemptive story of sacrifice, love––the Gospel story! AWE INSPIRING!
I sent my wife a text in the middle of this personal revelation. Here it is…
Dan: “That figures…my favorite verse (Numbers 16:48) is where 1,000’s of people die, you like the place where God shows Aaron the gifts that people are! Man problems, or is it Dan problems? Either way…”
Jen: “I just kept reading…”
2 Cor. 3:2&3, 2 Your lives are a letter written in our[a] hearts; everyone can read it and recognize our good work among you. 3 Clearly, you are a letter from Christ showing the result of our ministry among you. This “letter” is written not with pen and ink, but with the Spirit of the living God. It is carved not on tablets of stone, but on human hearts.
You know there are so many times we find ourselves in the midst of a situation that we don’t find very comforting, or perhaps, we just flat out don’t like. The key to the place where we find ourselves too often could be the end of the book as we see fit. But God is saying to us, “Just keep reading!”
KEEP READING! Don’t stop, you never know what the next chapter will hold. We know the end of the story culminates in eternity, but the chapters between where you are right now, and the end of the book will be a great story…Powerful, Redemptive, the Gospel Front and Center!
As I get ready to turn 41 in September, I learn over and over again that the cycle of life is always changing and never really stops until there is no more life to be lived. Then we face eternity…
So until then, let’s just keep reading; keep trusting that the decisions we make, the decisions that others make, will keep us turning the pages!
Thanks Jen. I would still be on the preface if not for you!