I grew up in a place where kids could run free. Farm land, old one-lane roads, and creeks that ran for miles filled my days with discovery. We would set off on our bikes to explore and find places of wonder. As I have grown older I realize that my parents worked very hard to create environments where I could find frontiers. They desired the best for me, and their words were always pointing to a future of good things. I was raised to dream, to hope, to believe.
But there were also other voices in my life. Voices that made me question not only my future but my value as well. Sometimes those voices were the ones I heard the clearest. That is not a new thing. In Numbers 13 and 14, God’s people are called to go into a new land–a land promised to them–but 400 years of slavery had made a deep mark on their identity. They refused to go where God was leading and the frontier became a wilderness.
Life is often a frontier: our kids go off to new schools, maybe you have a new job, or maybe there is a new diagnosis. Or perhaps once again you find yourself battling the same things you have battled before and you thought you would be better by now but you are not. A frontier can seem more like a wilderness. As I grow older I think the biggest difference is not how I view the obstacles, but how I view me.
Podcast: Download (Duration: 47:07 — 32.4MB)