Reason #589
I went to my first major league baseball game today. Go Rangers! It was a good game, despite the fact that it was about 100,000 degrees. Anyway, we cheered the Rangers to a victory, consumed about a million calories of ballpark food, and sweated off each one. All in all, a great experience.
Anyone who lives in Texas realizes that summer is hot, but seriously, it was miserably hot today. We decided that we'd try to spend as much time indoors as we could since we'd be outside all night. We spent the afternoon at the Grapevine Mills mall and fortunately, for my sanity and budget, we didn't make it to the side of the mall that had all of my favorite stores until about an hour and a half before it was time to go. We stumbled across an interesting store that was a mirror maze. Neither Aaron nor myself had ever gone through a mirror maze so we decided to give it a try. After all, it's not every day you get to find yourself lost amongst halls of mirrors. Anyway, we not only had to find our way through the maze, we also had to find three jewels so that we could win a mystery prize at the end. We received a quick little orientation and were given plastic gloves to wear so that we didn't get fingerprints on the mirror. We were told to walk out with our hands in front of us so that we didn't walk into the mirrors, which was absolutely necessary. I can't tell you how many times I almost ran into myself. And so we'd come to an area where we could go either way, I'd start in one direction and Aaron in the other so we could see which one was the right way to go. Teamwork! We came across the first jewel early on, found the second one about half way through, and got near the exit before we found the third one. There was no way we were going to finish with only 2 jewels and not get this mystery prize, so we turned back around and hunted down the third jewel. We finally found our way out, with all three jewels in hand, turned them in we each received... drum roll please... our very own piece of.... candy!
I have to be honest, that mirror maze was probably one of my most favorite moments of the day. The game was fun, the shopping was great, but I really loved going through that maze with Aaron. And I realize how effective it was to go through it together. Because if I would have been by myself, I would have had to take every turn, find out which ones were right, turn around when I took the wrong ones, and try to remember which was which. But having someone to walk through the maze with helped because when one of us took a wrong turn, we'd tell the other one. And when we took the right turn, we'd make sure to call the other one over so we could get going in the right direction. That way, no one was completely lost and we saved ourselves from a lot of unnecessary work in the end.
Life can be a maze, too. You have no idea which way you are going, and just like the mirror maze, it looks like you're headed in the right direction no matter which way you look. And so you walk forward only to find yourself boxed in. You were deceived into thinking you were heading the right way, but you really weren't. And so you have to turn around and try again. Yet the Lord gives us people to walk through life with. People who've gone before us, people who have travelled certain paths, and so we can tell one another, "Hey, don't go that direction. You'll just get lost and you'll never get out." Or we can say, "Hey, come this way. This is the right path and it will help you get further." But it's up to us to listen, to heed advice from people who have wisdom and experience. Because although it may be new to you, someone else has been there and done that and they can end up saving you a lot of heartache, trouble, humiliation, discouragement, and unnecessary work in the end. Or maybe, they can give you the encouragement, direction, and help to get you where you need to be.
Well, even if we don't have friends or family who can always help us when we get stuck and are unsure of the way to go, we have a God who will. One who can see from beginning to end. A God who knows all the turns, tricks, and twists and He will never lead us in the wrong direction. He will never lead us into traps or deception. He will guide us along the right path if we'll listen to Him. If we'll take His word and trust the spirit's prompting, we'll always be going in the right direction. And at the end, we'll be rewarded, too. But it's a journey, so often a maze, and so we have to keep moving forward. Turn back when we need to, turn around if it's necessary, and stay on the right path because eventually He will get us through it and to the other side.
#589 - Because He leads us through the twists and turns and always get us going in the right direction.
"You guide me with your counsel, leading me to a glorious destiny." - Psalm 73:24
Anyone who lives in Texas realizes that summer is hot, but seriously, it was miserably hot today. We decided that we'd try to spend as much time indoors as we could since we'd be outside all night. We spent the afternoon at the Grapevine Mills mall and fortunately, for my sanity and budget, we didn't make it to the side of the mall that had all of my favorite stores until about an hour and a half before it was time to go. We stumbled across an interesting store that was a mirror maze. Neither Aaron nor myself had ever gone through a mirror maze so we decided to give it a try. After all, it's not every day you get to find yourself lost amongst halls of mirrors. Anyway, we not only had to find our way through the maze, we also had to find three jewels so that we could win a mystery prize at the end. We received a quick little orientation and were given plastic gloves to wear so that we didn't get fingerprints on the mirror. We were told to walk out with our hands in front of us so that we didn't walk into the mirrors, which was absolutely necessary. I can't tell you how many times I almost ran into myself. And so we'd come to an area where we could go either way, I'd start in one direction and Aaron in the other so we could see which one was the right way to go. Teamwork! We came across the first jewel early on, found the second one about half way through, and got near the exit before we found the third one. There was no way we were going to finish with only 2 jewels and not get this mystery prize, so we turned back around and hunted down the third jewel. We finally found our way out, with all three jewels in hand, turned them in we each received... drum roll please... our very own piece of.... candy!
I have to be honest, that mirror maze was probably one of my most favorite moments of the day. The game was fun, the shopping was great, but I really loved going through that maze with Aaron. And I realize how effective it was to go through it together. Because if I would have been by myself, I would have had to take every turn, find out which ones were right, turn around when I took the wrong ones, and try to remember which was which. But having someone to walk through the maze with helped because when one of us took a wrong turn, we'd tell the other one. And when we took the right turn, we'd make sure to call the other one over so we could get going in the right direction. That way, no one was completely lost and we saved ourselves from a lot of unnecessary work in the end.
Life can be a maze, too. You have no idea which way you are going, and just like the mirror maze, it looks like you're headed in the right direction no matter which way you look. And so you walk forward only to find yourself boxed in. You were deceived into thinking you were heading the right way, but you really weren't. And so you have to turn around and try again. Yet the Lord gives us people to walk through life with. People who've gone before us, people who have travelled certain paths, and so we can tell one another, "Hey, don't go that direction. You'll just get lost and you'll never get out." Or we can say, "Hey, come this way. This is the right path and it will help you get further." But it's up to us to listen, to heed advice from people who have wisdom and experience. Because although it may be new to you, someone else has been there and done that and they can end up saving you a lot of heartache, trouble, humiliation, discouragement, and unnecessary work in the end. Or maybe, they can give you the encouragement, direction, and help to get you where you need to be.
Well, even if we don't have friends or family who can always help us when we get stuck and are unsure of the way to go, we have a God who will. One who can see from beginning to end. A God who knows all the turns, tricks, and twists and He will never lead us in the wrong direction. He will never lead us into traps or deception. He will guide us along the right path if we'll listen to Him. If we'll take His word and trust the spirit's prompting, we'll always be going in the right direction. And at the end, we'll be rewarded, too. But it's a journey, so often a maze, and so we have to keep moving forward. Turn back when we need to, turn around if it's necessary, and stay on the right path because eventually He will get us through it and to the other side.
#589 - Because He leads us through the twists and turns and always get us going in the right direction.
"You guide me with your counsel, leading me to a glorious destiny." - Psalm 73:24
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