Last year, I remember, was a good analogy of a baseball field and how you can’t get ‘home’ without first touching 1st, 2nd or 3rd base. How many times in life, business and relationships, do we want to get home without running all the bases? How many people do we know in relationships or business that skip bases and get to home by cheating? Here’s a small snippet of that awesome sermon about running to 1st Base (which is where we are in the game)
Running to first base takes faith. We must believe that God knows best.
Running to first base takes patience. Stay the course. Do things the right way not necessarily right away.
Running to first base takes humility. Every thing in your being will tell you to run the bases your way. In the end we must realize that God knows best. He is running the show. We must let go. If we can die to ourselves we will establish a strong foundation of character. Then we will be ready to continue on this journey with God guiding us every step of the way!
Our good friend, Sam, spoke recently about embracing the process (see his blog here http://mathew514.blogspot.com//). His analogy of the process/event made me think about our upcoming process and the adoption process in general. Everyone on the outside remembers the "Gotcha Day," the photos, etc., but I'm sure most of us will never forget the process that brought us to the event. . . the trials, setbacks, unknown, etc. And, once we are far enough in the process to look back, I'm sure we'll be able to see God's alignment in it. For us, I already see it, but we have a long way to go yet. Sam said,
ask anyone to tell you a bible story… most likely they will remember the EVENT . . . Moses leads the people to the Promised Land! They don't talk about the 80 years those people wandered in the wilderness or the fact that Moses didn't even enter into the Promised Land. That's the process and it's not nearly as sexy . . . Noah builds an ark! Brought the animals in 2 by 2! Everyone knows that, but did you know that it took Noah around 100 years to build the ark . . . with his only help being his children . . . do you think he questioned at times if he really heard right from God? Building a massive boat in the middle of dry land? 100 years of a process brings us to the event. . .
His sermon focused on two main points:
Romans 3:28 What we've learned is this: God does not respond to what we do; we respond to what God does. We've finally figured it out. Our lives get in step with God and all others by letting him set the pace, not by proudly or anxiously trying to run the parade. MSG
Proverbs 16:9 In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps. NIV
Sam also said this –( I Love the last part!):
There is a plan in place for your life. You have an idea of what it should be, but in the end it's God's plan not yours. It can be a truly frustrating thing if you cannot get in step with God and His amazing story. A lot of times we just want to know what's next. This leaves us wondering the question all children ask their parents. Why? When my children ask this it just sets me off. What do you mean why, it's because I'm your dad and I said so. I think God feels this way with us too. In the end, it's because God said so.
Ahhh.. the EVENT. . . can’t wait for that day, but I know that we first have to run all the bases, touch each one without being called out, and then continue walking through the process (with our heads up) until God’s timing for that child, and His timing for our family collide. It might not be when and how we want, but oh what a sweet day that will be!
“This is God's universe and He does things His way. You may have a better way but you don't have a universe.” ~J. Vernon McGee
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