Last night, we had quite a bit of fog.  After worship, I took the long route back to my apartment and I got to thinking...

How do people respond to the weather when it's foggy?  I may be mistaken and please correct me if I'm off track, but you respond in two different ways.  One way is of fear and anxiety.  How many times are you worried when you hop in the car when it is foggy outside?  You literally can't see 5 feet in front of you.  When you are walking noises can definitely through you off.  Is that the noise of a car coming toward me?  Who is talking?  Is someone following me?  (sorry I'm not trying to get any of you paranoid...I promise ;) ).  The second way that people usually react is with a calm and serene attitude.  When it is foggy it is silent...peaceful...quiet.  It can be used as a time of thought...reflection...peace.

It is the same with our lives.  About 95% of the time, we live our lives not knowing what is in store for us or what we should be doing a.k.a. we are in a fog.  So many time we resort to panic and Satan contantly tries to throw things in our way to knock us off path, to take our focus off of where we are headed.  OR we could react with the peace a ssurance that Christ is walking beside in this life.  Our quiet comfort.  Striding beside us.  Whispering comfort in our ear.  There to take our hand when we need comforted.  Ready to carry us when our feet become heavy.  ALWAYS THERE.  Waiting for us to look to Him.

In those times of panic where you have know idea what to do or what is going on around you, know this...He's matching you stride for stride...right next to you.

Yesterday I had a chance to have a spiritual conversation with a guy.  It was very interesting.  He had a ton of questions.  a lot of which I had to stop and pray about them be fore I could even think of answering.  My hope is that the Holy Spirit is now working in his life and that Chirst will supply the answers to his questions.  I don't want to share his name but if you could keep this man in your prayers that would be fantastic.

I guess it was a warm up for spring break.  ;)

"The growth of all living green things wonderfully represents the process of recieving and relinquishing, gaining and losing, living and dying.  The seed falls into the ground, dies as the new shoot springs up.  There must be a splitting and a breaking in order for a bud to form.  the bud "lets go" when the flower forms.  The calyx lets go of the flower.  The petals must curl up and die in order for the fruit to form.  Thr fruit falls, splits, relinquishes the seed.  the seed falls into the ground....

There is no ongoing spiritual life without this process of letting go.  At the precise point where we refuse, growth stops.  If we hold tightly to anything given to us, unwilling to let it go when the time comes to let it go or unwilling to allow it to be used as the Giver means it to be used, we stunt the growth of the soul.

It is easy to make a mistake here.  "If God gave it to me," we say, "it's mine.  I can do what I want with it."  No.  The truth is that it is ours to thank Him for and ours to offer back to Him, ours to relinquish, ours to lose, ours to let go of-if we want to find our true selves, if we want real Life, if our hearts are set on glory.

Think of the self that God has given as an acorn.  It is a marvelous little thing, a perfect shape, perfectly designed for its purpose, perfectly functional.  Think of the grand glory of an oak tree.  God's intention when He made the acorn was the oak tree.  His intention for us is "...the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ."  Many deaths must go into our reaching that measure, many letting-goes.  When you lok at the oak tree, you don't feel that the "loss" of the acorn is a very great loss. The more you perceive God's purpose in your life, the less terrible will the losses seem.

...We were being asked to trust, to leave the planning to God.  God's ultimate plan was as far beyond our imaginnings as teh oak tree is from the acorn's imaginings.  The acorn does what it was made to do, without pestering its Maker with questions about when and how adn why.  We who have been given intelligence and a will and a whole range of wants that can be set against the divine Pattern for Good are asked to believe Him.  We are given the chance to trust Him when He says to us, "...If any man will let himself be lost for my sake, he will find his true self."

      When will we find it? we ask.  The answer is, Trust Me.

      How will we find it?  The answer again is,  Trust Me.

      Why must I let myself be lost? we persist.  The answer is,  Look at the acorn and trust Me."

Lord God,  I trust you completely.  Everything I have I give to you.  Lord it is not mine to hold onto, but Yours to use to Your Will.  Thank you Lord for this reminder that I am only a visitor to this earth.  Lord Jesus, may my eyes always be focused upon Your Glorious Resurrection!  In Your name I pray...Amen