Tag: opportunity

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Barrier crossing is a big deal!

Reading Time: 3 minutes

“Then Joshua told the people, “Purify yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do great wonders among you.” In the morning Joshua said to the priests, “Lift up the Ark of the Covenant and lead the people across the river.” And so they started out and went ahead of the people. The Lord told Joshua, “Today I will begin to make you a great leader in the eyes of all the Israelites. They will know that I am with you, just as I was with Moses. Give this command to the priests who carry the Ark of the Covenant: ‘When you reach the banks of the Jordan River, take a few steps into the river and stop there.’”” ‭‭Joshua‬ ‭3‬:‭5‬-‭8‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Moses was gone and now leadership rested fully on Joshua’s shoulders. Joshua had learned a lot in the time he was coached and mentored by Moses. God had also prepared the hearts of the people by directly dealing with those who complained, disobeyed or sowed discord. Joshua was ready to lead and the people were ready to follow. However, that did not mean there were not barriers and battles yet ahead!

The Jordan river crossing was a mini-reminder of the big Red Sea crossing. The Jordan river was huge, in the springtime of the year, when the river is in its flood stage, it was wider than its normal width of 90-100 feet and deeper than its average 3-10 feet. A 100+ feet wide and 10+ feet deep in a swift-water crossing meant guaranteed death for 2 million+ people. The Jordan river crossing has multiple applications for the Hebrew people (The word “Hebrew” is עברי (Ivrie) means “to cross over, or pass through”) and for us today.

One, God told the people to prepare beforehand, “purify yourselves.” This was a learned ritual of washing, praying, fasting and even refraining from marital relations! It was a way of putting the body, soul and spirit on high alert for what’s ahead.

Two, God made sure the people followed the Ark of the Covenant, which was symbolic of the presence of God. God didn’t live in the box, but He wanted them to understand that His covenant (the law) and specific memory items were represented as object lessons. At that time the ark contained the gold jar of manna, Aaron’s staff that had budded, and the stone tablets of the covenant. The priests carrying the ark went first and when their feet touched the river-water, the miracle of stopping tons of cubic feet of rushing water, began miles up, at the city of Adam.

Three, God had the priests, stand with the Ark of the Covenant in the middle of the river as yet another physical reminder of “passing by” in the safety of obedience to God’s leading, “Meanwhile, the priests who were carrying the Ark of the Lord’s Covenant stood on dry ground in the middle of the riverbed as the people passed by. They waited there until the whole nation of Israel had crossed the Jordan on dry ground.”Vs. 17‬.

And fourth, after everyone safely crossed over God commanded them to stack memory stones at their campsite, marking the supernatural event and provision of God. Knowing one day the children would ask about the stones, “We will use these stones to build a memorial. In the future your children will ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’” (4:6‬). Joshua even stacked 12 stones of his own in the middle of the Jordan river and the Bible says they still stood in that day as a reminder.

The Jordan river experience is a lasting example, a life lesson, that getting to God’s promises will normally mean crossing some kind of barrier. And, crossing those barriers in faith is not for the weak or faint of heart! But also, every barrier crossing should be celebrated and memorialized as praise to God and reminders that He is faithful to His promises.

I love the verse in 1 Corinthians 16:9 where the Apostle Paul reminds us of this Jordan river principle – “There is a wide-open door for a great work here, although many oppose me.” With God’s help, barriers, like rivers and oppositions are meant to be met and crossed.

Prayer

Dad,
There are barriers and opposition everywhere I look! Yet, with faith, I can see beyond them and find opportunities that lie ahead of me. Great opportunities + opposition = faith in You. Jesus even said there’d be tribulation, but be of good cheer because He has overcome the world! I am up for the great adventures and opportunities ahead.

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Anatomy of Opportunity

Reading Time: 3 minutes

I’m flying at 39,000 feet on the way to Italy! Oh, but I’m getting ahead of myself.
Adventures, vacations and opportunity – what do they have in common? RISK. And in my mind risk has a twin, it’s name is FEAR.
Yeah blame it on my past. I wasn’t raised in an environment where fun and spontaneity where valued. My world was chaotic and unpredictable. So what? It meant nothing until I met and married an adventurer. She is is full of ideas and dreams and possibilities. And, because she loves me, she throttled back to my speed of life – granny gear. “We can’t do that it cost too much money.” Or, “Other people do those things, we can’t.” It didn’t start all extravagant. I couldn’t even fathom a family vacation that featured camping out. Do you know how cheap a family camp out can be? Yeah, dirt cheap!
After we’d been married ten years… T E N  Y E A R S, my patient sweetie convinced me to try vacation training wheels. That’s where you go with a wiser, more experienced family and learn how to do vacation. Operative word, Learn.
We borrowed a tent trailer from friends and off we went to one of most beautiful spots on the face of the planet – Richardson’s Grove Campgrounds. Home to the tallest redwoods, cleanest streams and bonus – the Bigfoot Tourist Trap. Our trainers, Bob & Sara Matulich, showed us the way to travel, pack, decompress, enjoy good food and have meaningful conversation. True vacation. It was magical.
It was at the Bigfoot Store that we first purchased a $1.99 key ring in faith that one day we’d own a tent trailer of our own.
We managed to buy a really old-school Coleman Tent Trailer. It was huge, old, musty and cheap. Perfect for our family. We could tow it around and not worry if it got all beat up and broke – which it did. AND, no one wanted to borrow it!
So back to Italy. I’m just telling you, we didn’t start with Italy, we started with simple and cheap and (I) had to work our way up to extravagant and reasonable. I would list all the places we’ve vacationed, but you might think I was bragging. We’ve been a lot of cool places!
Oh, Italy. So here’s how this one came about (my version).
Robin was asked to help out at Children’s Pastors Convention. She and a few friends took turns promoting our denominational Kid’s curriculum. While they were at the booth the national Kid’s Ministries Director mentioned an European Missions Conference coming up in the fall and suggested that Robin and some team members join him to minister to Missionary Kids whose family serves all over Europe. At first Robin didn’t know he was serious, but it turned out that a few weeks after they talked Robin was asked to lead the team of her choosing. People needed to be asked, money needed to be raised and plans had to be put in place. At first she had ten people on the team but it worked its way down to six. Robin wanted me to go along to help with technology and logistics. I told her I could use my frequent flyer points to get my own ticket so her and her puppet friend, Georgie, wouldn’t have to work so hard to raise the money.
We decided to add on a few days after the conference to spend in Venice, Florence and Rome. Early in our marriage Robin talked up Paris. But after a few friends of hers went, they talked her into switching romance from France to Italy.
It’s been an HUGE stretch for me to go from camping to touring Italy! It’s not all about the money either. Believe it or not the money (or amazing friends) isn’t all that it takes. It started with a dream and a discussion. Im learning to enjoy both.
So that’s how we got to Italy. Oh, by the way, since I started this blog in the air. We’re now sitting in a hotel room in Rome. We are taking the train to Bologna then Bellaria in the morning.
Ciao.