Sa, 04/25/15, 21st of 50 Days of Easter, "Day of Praise," so say it with The Easter Guy, "Jesus is alive, and you are loved!"
"Azariah the priest with eighty other courageous priests of the Lord followed him in. They confronted King Uzziah and said..." - 2 Chronicles 26:17-18
Courageous priests of the Lord confronted the King in today's verses. Courageous confrontation does not always need to be negative.
My children are courageous in this way. They confront me positively. With courage.
For example, "The Odyssey" is a 35-feet-high-ropes course at JH Ranch. You tackle The Odyssey as a team. My daughter, Calley-Taylor, and I were to be a team of two people within our team of four people who were trying to conquer four sections of challenges on a quarter-inch cable that was 35-feet in the air.
It's a wonder that we ever got started, let alone finished.
Our guide, Hannah, about 20 years old, stepped out on the cable and scooted across to get ahead of us just enough to lead. Maggie, 21, and her dad, Mark, stepped on the cable and began their part of our Odyssey.
Calley-Taylor stepped out and steadied herself. And finally, I...well, I froze...repeatedly. I'm afraid...not of everything...but of heights, to be sure. And the last time, I looked, and I did look...down, that is,...35 feet is high, even if you are strapped in with safety gear.
I just couldn't do it. I couldn't even step, with one foot, off the platform and onto the cable.
Until Calley-Taylor confronted me. Courageously.
She could've been bitterly proud. Sinfully proud. Because I'm not the perfect father. I've hurt my children, unwittingly and otherwise. She could've said in her heart, "He thinks he knows so much, and acts so high and mighty, and the poor man can't even step out onto a cable like all the rest of us."
Instead, she confronted me with love. That was implicitly packed full of forgiveness for me, love for God, and courage for the task at hand.
So, I was frozen, for what seemed like hours, until...
She spoke, lovingly, courageously, saying, "You can do it, Dad."
Again and again and again and again. For four sections of The 35-Feet High Odyssey, she confronted me, saying, "You can do it, Dad, you can do it."
And so I did. For four, 35-feet high and 60-feet long, totaling 240 feet long, sections. I did it.
Not because I had the first ounce of courage. But because someone courageously confronted me, believing I could do it and calling me to believe the same. One step at a time.
In today's Bible verses, "Azariah the priest with eighty other courageous priests of the Lord" confronted King Uzziah. On The Odyssey ropes course, Calley-Taylor courageously confronted me.
And in some moment today, there will be an opportunity, probably there will be many opportunities, for each of us to confront someone...courageously. To look at them and see, not someone to look down upon, but someone who needs encouragement...to step out, one step at a time, and begin The Odyssey of their day. They need someone who will believe in them as Calley-Taylor believed in me.
This is what Jesus did for us in his cross and resurrection. He stretched out his hands toward the whole world and said, "I believe in you. I forgive you. Now let's start walking through this thing...together."
In the strength of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit, let's you and me do the same...for others.
Praise God!
Okay! Today's devotional that was stirred from the past with hope of some outdoorsyness on this Saturday and my wife, Amanda's, gentle and clear encouragement to me yesterday.
"Azariah the priest with eighty other courageous priests of the Lord followed him in. They confronted King Uzziah and said..." - 2 Chronicles 26:17-18
Courageous priests of the Lord confronted the King in today's verses. Courageous confrontation does not always need to be negative.
My children are courageous in this way. They confront me positively. With courage.
For example, "The Odyssey" is a 35-feet-high-ropes course at JH Ranch. You tackle The Odyssey as a team. My daughter, Calley-Taylor, and I were to be a team of two people within our team of four people who were trying to conquer four sections of challenges on a quarter-inch cable that was 35-feet in the air.
It's a wonder that we ever got started, let alone finished.
Our guide, Hannah, about 20 years old, stepped out on the cable and scooted across to get ahead of us just enough to lead. Maggie, 21, and her dad, Mark, stepped on the cable and began their part of our Odyssey.
Calley-Taylor stepped out and steadied herself. And finally, I...well, I froze...repeatedly. I'm afraid...not of everything...but of heights, to be sure. And the last time, I looked, and I did look...down, that is,...35 feet is high, even if you are strapped in with safety gear.
I just couldn't do it. I couldn't even step, with one foot, off the platform and onto the cable.
Until Calley-Taylor confronted me. Courageously.
She could've been bitterly proud. Sinfully proud. Because I'm not the perfect father. I've hurt my children, unwittingly and otherwise. She could've said in her heart, "He thinks he knows so much, and acts so high and mighty, and the poor man can't even step out onto a cable like all the rest of us."
Instead, she confronted me with love. That was implicitly packed full of forgiveness for me, love for God, and courage for the task at hand.
So, I was frozen, for what seemed like hours, until...
She spoke, lovingly, courageously, saying, "You can do it, Dad."
Again and again and again and again. For four sections of The 35-Feet High Odyssey, she confronted me, saying, "You can do it, Dad, you can do it."
And so I did. For four, 35-feet high and 60-feet long, totaling 240 feet long, sections. I did it.
Not because I had the first ounce of courage. But because someone courageously confronted me, believing I could do it and calling me to believe the same. One step at a time.
In today's Bible verses, "Azariah the priest with eighty other courageous priests of the Lord" confronted King Uzziah. On The Odyssey ropes course, Calley-Taylor courageously confronted me.
And in some moment today, there will be an opportunity, probably there will be many opportunities, for each of us to confront someone...courageously. To look at them and see, not someone to look down upon, but someone who needs encouragement...to step out, one step at a time, and begin The Odyssey of their day. They need someone who will believe in them as Calley-Taylor believed in me.
This is what Jesus did for us in his cross and resurrection. He stretched out his hands toward the whole world and said, "I believe in you. I forgive you. Now let's start walking through this thing...together."
In the strength of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit, let's you and me do the same...for others.
Praise God!
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