walking on water

God's will for my life has always been one of those mind blowing issues in Christianity.  It's not a new concept to me although it really blew everyone's mind when Warren came out with Purpose Driven Life a few years back (good book, by the way).  Although the concept of God speaking to us, blows some of our minds... this leaves room for so much bad theology and bad mentoring, that I finally got a picture of what "following God's will" looks like...

Sometimes our journey through life as a Christian is like this-- I am brought to the bank of a river... and God points to the other side and says "See the other side there?  I want you to get over there."  I clap my hands in delight and dive in, headlong, not looking around, just diving right in.  But 10 steps in, my feet fall out from under me and the current starts to sweep me away... so I cry out to the Lord, and He rescues me... sets me back on the bank where I started. 

So I'm disappointed, upset... for a variety of reasons.... but I ask the Lord again, "are You sure You want me over there?" 
"Yes."
"okay... so let me make up a game plan," I say to myself.  And set to work.

so this time, I try again with a raft that I built out of sticks lying by the creek bank.  And at the middle of the river, the raft sinks.  Again, He rescues me.

A few days later, I decide to build a bridge... so I gather up logs and try to make a bridge... fail...

Okay maybe I can fly across... but that attempt failed too...

And at this point, I am beyond confused and hurt and just wondering why God told me to do something that I can't accomplish... so I sit on the bank and sulk... for a while...

So eventually, I make it back around to talking to the Lord and I says, "Okay, God... so You still want me to do this thing?"

He says, "Yes."
Several of my plans had failed... so I said, "Okay, so how 'bout You get me there...?  I can't figure this one out." 

And He takes my hand, and we step out on the water... and He walks me across... and all the while, He is talking with me and laughing and showing me all the beauty along the river... until we reach our destination.  And even once we reach our destination, He doesn't leave... He sits with me and works beside me...

so you see, it's not about the destination, it's about the journey and what we do along the way... the only thing about reaching a goal is that we look for the next goal... Maybe I'm completely off base, but this is my revelation for the week... Joy for the Journey... Leaning on the Everlasting Arms....