Message posted April 18, 2008 – “Where He leads, we will follow”

Opening prayer:

Dear Lord, guide my path each day as I continue my journey through this worldly life. I trust you completely to lead me to what is right and to keep me from what is wrong. When I am not sure what I should do next, I will place myself in your hands with the confidence that you will lead me to the right decision. Lord, I thank you for your never-ending interest in guiding my life, through Jesus Christ, our Savior. Amen.

Selected Bible readings (New International Version):

Psalms 32:8

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you.

Matthew 6:33

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

Matthew 7:7-8

7 "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

Proverbs 3 5:6

5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;

6 in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.

The Message:

This week’s message is short, and is related to my personal experiences. I’ve always known that God was steering my life. I remember reading again and again how useless it is to plan things because God has His own idea how things will turn out. It is important that each of you are able to see how things that happen in your life are according to God‘s will, because when it becomes consciously obvious that something just happened that you didn’t plan on, and it happened in such a way that there is no doubt that Heavenly intervention was involved, you will be able to see for yourself that without a doubt there is a God, and he is watching over you. Many people accept things without requiring proof. God asks the same of us – that we believe in God and faithfully follow the teachings of the Holy Bible. Sometimes when we lose sight of this mission, God will “get right in our face” and say “Here I am!” And sometimes he will do so not because or lack of faith, but rather as a reward for faithful service.

Lately, this has been happening a lot in my life and also in my wife Peggy’s life. We lived in a nice home in the country outside of San Diego, California. From time-to-time, we would see a nice new house, and wish that we could afford a brand new house, but we knew that was not possible because it was hard enough keeping up with the mortgage payments on our current home. We would also like the house to be a little larger. Our kitchen was old-fashioned, and Peg wanted a new, modern kitchen with granite counters. Our queen bed was too small for two king-sized adults. Peg’s car was old, never ran correctly, and was constantly in the repair shop. My car had 207,000 miles and I was unsure how much longer it would last. I tried to buy a new car, but could not obtain financing because my debt was already too high. We also owed the IRS for three years worth of back taxes. We were being over run with too much “junk.” We tried to go to swap meets, but we were acquiring more junk faster than we could get rid of our old junk.

Then on October 21, 2007, the Lord stepped in and removed our junk, Peg’s car, and our house when a ravaging wildfire swept through our area. At first we were devastated by our losses. During the fire, we prayed that the Lord would protect our house, but by the time we knew of the threat, it was already too late, the fire had already destroyed our home. Then while we were in the process of wondering how the Lord could do such a thing, especially since I was rehearsing with our Music Ministry at the exact time the fire was ravaging our house, I suddenly realized that the Lord could not give us the new house we desired until he took the old one; that he could not give us the new cars until he took the old one. We were rid of all our “junk” those knick-knacks you pick up along the way and never look at again. Because of the natural disaster deduction on our income tax, we obtained enough of a refund to almost pay off what we owed.

Soon we will be living in our brand new house, a larger house than we had before. All our furniture will be brand new and will be exactly what we have chosen. My wife is driving a reliable used car with a new engine and I used insurance money to pay cash for a new car. We hope to have enough money left over for Peg to also get a new car. We have all new clothes. Everything we have is brand new.

Yes, we will miss many items that are irreplaceable; photos, yearbooks, original recordings, home movies, antiques, family heirlooms, and other cherished possessions. But we are both getting older, and have learned to enjoy each day one day at a time. I must admit that it has been a long while since I looked at my wedding photos, watched a vacation movie, or picked up the baseball signed by Stan Musial, a baseball great from the early 1960’s. We will miss all of this, and it still hurts at times, but we are enjoying making “new memories.”

But that is not my story, all this is just background information so that you will understand that we both accepted the fact that the Lord has proven to us that he is in control of our life’s and the we both acknowledge the fact and accept it. But the real affirmation came just yesterday. Our regular church group has been having trouble getting together at an appropriate time because we had to give up the lease on our church building when the rent exceeded what was being collected from the church members. Church service this week was scheduled for 2PM, and Peggy and I agreed that this was too late for us to accomplish anything else that had to be done that day, and we decided to go to a different church that was meeting at 10AM, a time that was more suitable to our schedule. This is a church that we have never bee to before, but we knew a few of the members.

Lately, we have discovered some needs caused by the fire that have not been met. Some of the needs were financial due to being under-insured, and others involved having to face the extensive task of getting out property back in shape, clearing the debris, cutting the brush, fixing the eroded soil, replacing the trees and ground covering, and many other things like this.

As it happened to pass, at the end of the church service, a door opened which led to a series of makeshift offices. Peg and I discovered that there were people there who were trying to meet the needs of the fire victims. It was a long-term recovery unit. We met with the two people who had come in while our church service was ending, and before long, they were telling us how to obtain financial grants, a free storage shed, cash assistance, free trees, and many other things. Out name was placed on a list where a work crew would soon be coming to out property to trim the trees and brush and put everything back in shape. We might be able to get some gravel to fill the ruts in our roads. Many other solutions were presented to us that day – things that we would not have known were available if we had not been in the right place at the right time. What made us turn our back on our friends at Faith Fellowship Church and attend the Dulzura Community Church that day? Simple – It was God’s will to lead us to what we were seeking.

Closing prayer:

Let’s pray together:

Lord, we thank you for all the good things you have done in our lives. We understand that, although it saddens us, there are times you must call one of us to heaven to make room for a new soul with unlimited potential to do good things and make many people happy. Because we have studied your Holy Words, we understand that nothing happens without a reason, and that what appears to be bad may actually be a blessing in disguise. I have faith and trust that you will do what is right in my life, and if I every have any questions, I will bring them to you. You always manage to answer our questions, in your own way, and in your own time, but you never forget us, and for that, we are truly blessed. We thank you, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Have a blessed life!