Let's Take A Walk

It's been a few days since my last post, mostly because I got to go home and spend some time with my family over the holiday weekend. It is so good to see them, but so hard to leave when that time comes. While I was home, I noticed a bit of a habit that our cat, Allie, has developed. We have had her since she was born and in our last house, we never let her go outside because it was right off a pretty busy street. So she has been a strictly inside cat all of her life. Now she is living in a house that sits on 25 acres basically in the middle of nowhere and there is no reason that she couldn't go exploring and expand her world beyond the back door. I watched her over the weekend as she would go to the door and lookout and act like she wanted to go out but when the door opened she would move away from it, back to the comfort of what she has always known. The one time she actually went out she only went a few steps and froze, looking absolutely in fear of what might lie over that two inch drop to the patio.
It made me think of my own life right now and how many people I have talked to over the last few months and years who are just stuck in places that they don't particularly enjoy or want to be in, but the money's good or there are too many unknowns if they were to change. It reminded me of how we talk about faith and the importance of it, but then hold on with steel fists to lives we have "surrendered" to God. I for one have talked about faith endlessly throughout my time in ministry but it took these last 3 years to really appreciate the beginning of what faith is, it is that back door. It is so easy to live that domesticated life, there's always food, a soft couch, and sometimes someone to scratch you in just the right spot, but it robs us of the potential that lies just outside. Inside, life is predictable and safe for the most part, but we don't need God most of the time inside, just at dinner time and to change the litter box.
Outside is where all the possibilities lie, it is there that real faith is formed and tested. So, I find myself at 36, away from my family, working jobs that pay 1/4 of what I made two years ago, sometimes thinking what am I doing? Then I remember, being safe and warm inside looking out that back door at the vastness and unpredictability of what lay just on the other side. For me, God lay on the other side of that door. So here I am outside, it is not always easy, there are days that I long to just go back to what I know, but that would be me depending on me and that is not faith at all. I am thankful that God has brought me to this point and I follow Him as he leads me through these woods and as I learn the way, maybe I can help others find the way as well. See you on the outside!

P.S. "If you decide for God, living a life of God-worship, it follows that you don't fuss about what's on the table at mealtimes or whether the clothes in your closet are in fashion. There is far more to your life than the food you put in your stomach, more to your outer appearance than the clothes you hang on your body. Look at the birds, free and unfettered, not tied down to a job description, careless in the care of God. And you count far more to him than birds.
"Has anyone by fussing in front of the mirror ever gotten taller by so much as an inch? All this time and money wasted on fashion—do you think it makes that much difference? Instead of looking at the fashions, walk out into the fields and look at the wildflowers. They never primp or shop, but have you ever seen color and design quite like it? The ten best-dressed men and women in the country look shabby alongside them.
"If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers—most of which are never even seen—don't you think he'll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? What I'm trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God's giving. People who don't know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don't worry about missing out. You'll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.
"Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don't get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes." Matthew 6:24-31