Yesterday I had the opportunity to have lunch with a great friend again. Ivan Veldhuizen was in town for some Converge “Business” and he took a little break for a lunch at Five Guys.  My birthday is the 11th and Ivans is the 19th so it has become a tradition that we go out for lunch sometime in November to celebrate and catch up.  Ivan likes to remind me that my birthday is earlier in the month so I get older sooner however, I always remind him that the was born almost 2 years before me so I will never catch him. At any rate, we talked about a lot of things but I could not help but think how much has changed in the last year. It was November 6th of 2011 that Ivan first asked if we would be willing to go to Nigeria.  If you go back and read earlier blog posts you will remember that Tina and I felt that we were being prepared for some other ministry and were looking for where God’s next place for us was.  From the moment that Ivan asked me I knew that this was the direction that God was asking us to go. We received a ton of support from family and friends and you know the rest of the story.

But what I want to talk about today is the constant journey of: Trust & Obey.  There was a little chorus that we sang when I was growing up, “Trust and obey, for there’s no other way, to be happy in Jesus, than to trust and obey!”  But is it really that simple in life? The short answer is yes, it is that simple, but no it is not that easy. It ought to be, but it’s not. It appears that it wasn’t that easy for Abraham either.  Abraham’s life was full of twists and turns. He had to trust God at every point on his life journey. Sometimes he did and sometimes he didn’t  When he did, things went well for him. When he didn’t  there was always a price to pay. I’m convinced that it’s the same for us.  The last year has not been easy. I get frustrated with how long things take and I want to “forge forward”, “grab the bull by the horns”, need I go on? But then God reminds me that He knows the proper time, He knows where our support is coming from, HE KNOWS… all I am required to do is Trust and Obey.  See how simple it is?  Just like Abraham, we are on this earth in relationship with God, looking forward to eternity with Him. Just like Abraham, there are times in our lives, when we will want to grab the reigns and direct just a little bit when it gets scary or uncertain. The question becomes, as it was for Abraham, will we trust and obey or not?

As the writer of Hebrews looks back on Abraham he says: By faith Abraham obeyed, when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he went to live in the land of promise as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city that had foundations, whose designer and builder is God. —Hebrews 11:8-10

So as Tina always end her posts, my point for the day is: Let’s answer the call to walk in faith and in relationship as we “trust and obey!”