Weekend Revelations

So it is finally coming together in my mind and I think reaching my heart as well.

Chapter 7 in Traveling Light by Max Lucado, I read a perspective that has become ingrained in my thinking and has been working on my heart - in a good way.

We ask God, "Where is the path?  Where are you taking me?"  And he, like the guide, doesn't tell us.  Oh, he may give us a hint or two, but that's all.  If he did, would we understand?  Would we comprehend our location?  No, like the traveler, we are unacquainted with this jungle.  So rather than give us an answer, Jesus gives us a far greater gift.  He gives us himself.

...everything changes when your rescuer appears.  Your loneliness diminishes, because you have fellowship.  Your despair decreases, because you have vision.  Your confusion begins to lift, because you have direction.  Please note:  you have not left the jungle.  It hasn't changed, but you have...because you have hope...because you have met someone that can lead you out. ...Jesus doesn't give us hope by changing the jungle; he restores our hope [by changing us].

And that is what God has been doing in me, restoring my hope by changing me.  (I did not even realize how hopeless I felt.)  What I have learned:

The destination is not the point or the goal, and not even the journey is the point or goal, but Jesus is - Jesus is the goal, the prize...and I have already attained that.  :)

My jungle is developing my team of ministry partners, being unclear as to what step to take next, and not knowing how or when I will ever reach my dream of doing full time minsitry.  This jungle may seem like a period of waiting - waiting for the day of which I dream - but it is a period of walking with my LORD, as is all of life.  I do not want to be looking forward so much that I miss what he has for me right now, that I miss more precious time with him.  He is my hope amidst the jungle, and even if I am "lost" in this "jungle" for a prolonged period of time, I have already been found in the most important way - by my Hope, my Guide - and so long as I am with him, that is all that matters - I have all I need and am not truly lost.

Bottom line:  Life's value is not defined by our actions, but rather, by our relationships.  Living is not constantly looking toward the future; living is enjoying and taking part in the present.