Obstacles

When I was a Boy Scout, we played a game when new Scouts joined the troop. We lined up chairs in a pattern, creating an obstacle course through which the new Scouts, blindfolded, were supposed to maneuver. The Scoutmaster gave them a few moments to study the pattern before our adventure began. But as soon as the victims were blindfolded, the rest of us quietly removed the chairs. I think life is like this game. Perhaps we spend our lives avoiding obstacles we have created for ourselves and in reality exist only in our minds. We're afraid to apply for that job, take violin lessons, learn a foreign language, call an old friend, write our Congressman - whatever it is that we would really like to do but don't because of personal obstacles. Don't avoid any chairs until you run smack into one. And if you do, at least you'll have a place to sit down. ~Pierce Vincent Eckhart  

I read this and thought about my life and how often I have faced obstacles in my path and instead of pressing forward I went around, over, behind or turned around instead of trusting God to help me through them. 

The lesson here is that God will teach me something in the process of going through the obstacle.  But if I run from it in fear or rehearse in my mind what could, might or possibly happen, then I have lost the opportunity to learn a great lesson that God alone can teach me. 

We are like the Scout with the blindfold on.  Our Christian life is characterized in the same way.  We must act like we are blindfolded, because in reality we really are, and trust that God will lead us where we are most needed and in God's perfect timing.

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I am guilty of not trusting in You.  Please help me to have blind faith.  Faith that knows You are with me and knows You will reward me when I earnestly seek You.

Scripture:  Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.   This is what the ancients were commended for.  By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible. By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead. By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death: “He could not be found, because God had taken him away.” For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God.  And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith. Hebrews 11:1-7