Do Ya Have Enuff Faith to Get Up & Go?

Image from agnusday.org

Now the Lord said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. (Genesis 12:1-4a)

I'll never forget the first trip I took with my group from campus ministry from then-Pan American University in Edinburg, Texas.  Edinburg is deep in the heart of the Valley of Texas, and most of the students in that rented or borrowed van had never left the Valley!  It was unreal to imagine, but the church and my parents had allowed me to venture into other cities, and so a trip to Kerrville and just a bit beyond was a normal occurrence to me, but to hear and see the expressions of these kids wonder and marvel of the great big world that is out there, yes, beyond the Valley, was an incredible blessing to me.  And even as I write this and you read this, there are those who will not know there is a world beyond the Valley.  For some of them, to be born and raised, live and die in the Valley is sufficient for them.  Very few things, if any, will lure them away from the comfort and peace that for them is the Rio Grande Valley.  

Imagine yourself as one who has never traveled beyond your home.  Add to that that you're seventy-five years old.  You're a religious person, you pray to the Lord and believe in God; then one day your Lord speaks to you.  And here is what he says, , I want you to leave your home, your family, and your father's house to a new land that I am going to show you."  That in itself would be enough for some to say, "Uh, God, you have the wrong number!  I'm fine where I am.  Or, as my daughter say, "I'm good."  But listen as God continues, "I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.  I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you, , all the families of the earth shall be blessed."  Wow, that's some promise you're making to me, Lord.  Abram had enough faith to say, as the old song, "I will follow Him, follow Him wherever He may go..."  (if you know the song you have it stuck in your head now, right?)

Abram is called the Father of the Faith for having said yes to God.  He was willing to leave everything and everyone who meant dear things to him, and become the father of a great nation.  It was not an easy decision.  It was a faith decision.  It required that faith that trusts God and follows God wherever God may lead.  And the promise from God was a great one as well.  It came true, finally, for the journey towards it was not an easy or simple one.  But with God at his side, Abram and Sarah journeyed forward and upward.

Do you have the courage to journey across the room to share your faith with someone in obedience to God?  How about across the street?

PRAYER:  Lord, increase my faith.  Help me to trust You enough to venture where You will lead me.  I want to serve You and be faithful and fruitful to You.  This I pray in Christ Jesus' strong name, amen.

Have a great and blessed day in the Lord!

Eradio Valverde