Bible Study Verse
Matthew 25:35
For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in. (NIV)
Thoughts
When our kids were young and we were headed out on a camping/backpacking trip somewhere, we always started our trip out in our driveway simply praying that God would guide and direct our trip, protect us, and use us in some way along our journey - wherever we were going.
Our little prayer that just organically started in our driveway turned into a tradition for us as a family. The cool thing about the prayer is that over the course of various trips, God always seemed to answer our prayer in a very specific and obvious way. I'll mention only a few to illustrate:
- Our camper had a brake problem in Vermont, which revealed itself just as we were going down a ravine into our campground. As it turned out, the campground owner offered to help us out and had the knowledge to help us fix the brakes. Along the way, we had a couple of great God conversations with him in trying to fix the brakes.
- In Montana, our camper tire had a blowout on a section of a 2 lane highway. A fella with a truck camper pulled up behind us, offered to help, and parked out into the road behind us while I changed my tire right on the edge of the road. He did this to make the traffic behind us go out and away from me while I worked. In a crazy Dukes of Hazzard moment and me lying there fixing a tire . . . 5 vehicles in total criss-crossed each other's paths right where I was on the edge of the3 "2 lane" highway. Had this gentleman not been behind me, I would have gotten run over by these other careless drivers who were trying to pass each other.
- In Pukaskwa Provincial Park in northern Ontario, we were almost out of food because of getting stuck in a bay with bad weather for a few days. A group of kayakers who were out on Lake Superior kayaking had arrived in the same bay just after us and were also stuck there until the storm ended. We got to know each other, and they had extra food that they offered for us to use to get us through. Part of these folks were believers from Australia who "just happened" to be there to help us out. We had great fellowship with them stuck in a remote bay on Lake Superior until the storm ended.
(Dave M)
Action Point
I believe that God has allowed us these very specific divine appointments for a multitude of reasons. On these adventures our family takes, we now look forward to how God is going to work on "this trip," because we have seen Him do it over and over again.
We look for how He is going to move, we anticipate it, and enjoy the moments when they are happening because it's a part of our focus. I don't believe that these specific moments always happen on a day-to-day basis, but I often wonder how many we miss because our focus isn't on how God is moving in our life.
It is very easy to get wrapped up in schedules, work, household jobs, running the kids to various places . . . Make it a priority to keep the right focus with God in your busyness. He doesn't want your scraps. If you are too busy for God, then maybe you need to make some changes to what you are doing.
Sportsmen's Tip of the Day
Maps are still a valuable part of planning family trips. Many of us now rely on a Tomtom or a Gar to help us navigate our trips. If you haven't figured this out yet, they'll get you to where you want to go most of the time. But, they are not always the most direct route. Pull out a map and check it out for yourself
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